Mo Yan Collection: Sandalwood Punishment

Author: Mo Yan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Tian Xiang Xing (Sandalwood Death) is a long novel that Mo Yan meticulously crafted over five years. In this masterful work, Mo Yan sets the story against the historical backdrop of German construction of the Jiaozi Railway in Shandong in 1900, Yuan Shikai's suppression of the Shandong Boxer Rebellion, the Anglo-French Eight-Nation Alliance's capture of Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi's hasty flight. With a flamboyant and expressive writing style, profound passion, and insightful depth, Mo Yan vividly narrates a moving movement, a shocking torture, and a thrilling love story that unfolds in the "Gaoqi Northeast Township." The plot revolves around the protagonist Mei Niang and her conflicts and intertwined fates with her biological father, adoptive father, and father-in-law. This novel is a reaction against magical realism and Western modernist fiction, as well as a bold challenge to the popular historical novels of the time. The entire work possesses the vividness and widespread appeal of folk literature, passed down and recited by the people. Using an openly dazzling structure————— (Phoenix Head—Pork Belly—Leopard Tail)—Mo Yan tells a complex story that alternates between chilling and tender moments. It is a truly national novel, one that truly originates from the people and is dedicated to the masses.
Mo Yan, a renowned contemporary Chinese writer, is celebrated for his unique creative techniques and has gained fame in the Chinese literary world. To date, he has published nearly ten long novels and over a hundred short stories and novellas. His novels, with their vibrant colors, novel sensations, and rich, distinctive imagery, have created an artistic world in Gaoqi County's Northeast Township, reminiscent of Macondo in Gabriel García Márquez's works, to the point where some critics have remarked that Mo Yan is China's own Gabriel García Márquez.
The memory of rural life serves as the (materials) and background for much of Mo Yan's literary work.