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Mo Yan

Born

in Gaomi, Shandong province, China

February 17, 1955

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Influences

Gabriel García Márquez, Leo Tolstoy, William Faulkner ...more

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Modern Chinese author, in the western world most known for his novel Red Sorghum (which was turned into a movie by the same title). Often described as the Chinese Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller.

Mo Yan (莫言) is a pen name and means don't speak. His real name is Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè).

He has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 for his work which "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". Among the works highlighted by the Nobel judges were Red Sorghum (1987) and Big Breasts & Wide Hips (2004), as well as The Garlic Ballads.

Chinese version: 莫言 ...more

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Mo Yan’s books

Average rating: 3.77 · 41,682 ratings · 5,462 reviews · 322 distinct works • Similar authors

	Red Sorghum by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator) 3.81 avg rating — 9,347 ratings — published 1987 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Frog by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator) 3.81 avg rating — 5,920 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out 4.07 avg rating — 5,504 ratings — published 2006 — 79 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Big Breasts & Wide Hips by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator) 3.87 avg rating — 3,889 ratings — published 1996 — 64 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Change 3.44 avg rating — 3,938 ratings — published 2010 — 62 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (translator), Maria Rita Masci (Translator), Luminita Balan (Translator) 3.74 avg rating — 3,279 ratings — published 1988 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator) 3.48 avg rating — 2,765 ratings — published 1992 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sandalwood Death by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translation) 4.28 avg rating — 1,463 ratings — published 2001 — 46 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator) 3.58 avg rating — 1,423 ratings — published 2001 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	POW! by Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt (Translator) 3.52 avg rating — 630 ratings — published 2003 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mo Yan…

Series by Mo Yan

四十一炮 [Sìshíyī pào] (1 book)
by

Mo Yan

3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings

술의 나라 [Sul ŭi nara] (2 books)
by

Mo Yan,

모옌,

박명애 (Translator)

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings

Quotes by Mo Yan (?)

“Finally, she mused that human existence is as brief as the life of autumn grass, so what was there to fear from taking chances with your life?”
― Mo Yan, Red Sorghum

tags: existence

1389 likes

“People who are strangers to liquor are incapable of talking about literature.”
― Mo Yan

1155 likes

“Where there's life, death is inevitable. Dying's easy; it's living that's hard. The harder it gets, the stronger the will to live. And the greater the fear of death, the greater the struggle to keep on living.”
― Mo Yan, Big Breasts & Wide Hips

74 likes

See all Mo Yan's quotes »

Polls

What will be our open pick book for May 2016?

Please take into account the availability and cost (and length) of books when voting for them. Remember, if you vote for a book and it wins, you are implicitly promising to read the book and participate in the discussion.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

8 votes, 42.1%

Min kamp 1 by Karl Ove Knausgård

3 votes, 15.8%

The Past by Tessa Hadley

3 votes, 15.8%

Frog by Mo Yan

3 votes, 15.8%

Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan

2 votes, 10.5%

19 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Teens Read Book Club: What are you currrently reading right now??	93	213	Oct 18, 2010 02:06PM
Reading with Style: Spring 2012 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks	952	278	May 31, 2012 08:59PM
Literary Fiction ...: Chinese Novelist Mo Yan Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature	3	43	Oct 15, 2012 10:43AM
Reading Challenges: Nobel per la letteratura 2012	11	68	Oct 31, 2012 10:21AM
Goodreads Italia: Programmi per il 2013	31	80	Dec 21, 2012 12:23PM
You'll love this ...: Ada´s Low Octane 2013 Challenge Author´s Last Name A-Z	18	93	Jan 25, 2013 07:59PM
DC Public Library: Book News	20	82	Feb 13, 2013 08:31AM

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Mo Yan’s Followers (1,515)

Mo Yan

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Polls

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Combine Editions
Mo Yan’s books