Mo Yan's Literary World

Starting from Moyan's literature, this thesis analyzed and explored the literature comparatively, and displayed the abundance, the broadness and magic of it, through the application of theory and method of religion, anthropology, history and folklore.There is a different historical world in Moyan'literary world. As known to all, the relationship between literature and history is quite complicated, the usual understanding about it is: the literary narration normally embodies the writer's imaginative freedom and possible fiction, Opposite to history, which uses the logical meticulosity and serious record as the reasoning method and narrative form. In fact, litterateurs'attitude towards the relationship between literature and history is vague, as well as literature and history provide the multi-level and multi-facet corroboration of the tangle system from details to a whole which is confounding in the fragmental, linear and main way. However, Moyan is against the conventional official history by his imagination, his literature affects historical structure and cultural deposit significantly. And the folk, grass-rooted and personalized understanding of history through the literature is acceptable. Moyan is rewriting the conventional historical version, using the meticulosity of details and personal experience, no matter the cultivating owner Blueface or the bandit Yu Zhanao is certainly a symbol, an existing sign. The great importance is, Moyan enriches and invents the official history with that history, shows subjects'thinking of literature and the fighting spirit.Religion is significant for human beings, the material needs and spiritual needs are the basic realities of the demands. Mo Yan has a very clear understanding of the material needs and spiritual needs of religion which can meet human beings. In his books (Red Sorghum Family and Vital Fatigue) (Forty-one Guns) (Vital Fatigue and Animal Farm yearn) the text for the particular portray for the temples, churches and other places. By the depiction of the image of monks, missionaries, travel Monk, Lama and other figures, it shows that the simple subject of the religious point of view. He has his own understanding of religious--- Mo Yan has the tone of ridicule and banter towards the various images in temple ,it demonstrate his attitude to religion. There are religious fator in Chinese people`s daily lives. But the acceptance of this cultural tradion is a diverse, complex, vague and unconscious. So Mo Yan is not a religious worshiper. His literary works reveals his latent religious philosophy and religious views. There are full of nature worship, ancestor worship (including the worship of women), mysterious cult in his text. This is also meet the principal of the growth process, the individual educational background and localized picture of the political environment. Nature worship is mainly depicted in his book. The depiction of the Worship of the forces of nature,the worship of animals,the worship of plant, which reflects the accumulation of the main cultural and art heritage. Mo Yan is respectful for women compared to the men worship of force. He has the female worship and nurture worship for the women. The mysterious worship derived from the ancient times. Derived from the misunderstanding and the unexplaination of the natural or non-human objects or some certain phenomenon. Or the things and objects that science and technology cannot explain. He has respected and awed and created the spiritual phenomena. The mysterious worship of the object, the first is the legendary ghosts and goblins, ghosts (in life and death) which can not get rid of Pu. The second is the mystery of human beings. All human beings can not explain, illustrate and cognitive When the people meet the pain, suffering , fear, death it will change from the physical to the spiritual ,the distortion or the deformation of the body, the high-spirited or depressed of the spirit. This situation or the mystery that towards positive state of development or to the negative direction. Thus it generates the reverence and awe. There is soul or not, it does not only plagued Xianglinsao,but also can not explain for alll the theologians, writers, philosophers.Professional reading habits cause us to seek the aesthetic value and artistic charm from literature. If we discard empty and meaningless pursuit and exploration, we may find out the real state of the ordinary life behind the text and the significance of daily literary recordings. The seemingly trivial recordings and the original appearance of close-knit life are filled with humanist consideration and artistic beauty. Literature may trigger inspiration in spirit and the thrill in mind. Moreover, the important elements of literature such as historical data, information and documentation may enable us to explore the existing state of the ages and some possibilities in history. Such factors are referred to as literary materiality. In order to gain a better comprehension, differentiation and interpretation, I should divide the materiality into three parts: the existence of folk-customs, historical memories of the nation, scenery and situations of the people. Folk-customs include wedding and funeral ceremonies, child-bearing, etc. in daily life, such as"shaking sedan chairs"(Red Sorghum Family), taking each other's daughter as daughters-in-law (Happiness), child brides (The abandoned Baby), wedding ceremonies for the dead (A Song of Garlic Stems in Paradise), child-bearing (Frogs), funeral ceremonies (Red Sorghum Family and Vital Fatigue); laboring customs such as straw-sandal weaving (The Straw-Sandal Cellar), reservoirs construction (Transparent Carrots), steel-making (Transparent Carrots), cotton selling (The Cotton-Selling Road); folk-art forms such as juggling (Vital Fatigue), Mao tune (Sandalwood Punishment), ballads (A Song of Garlic Stems in Paradise). Historical memories of the nation involve anti-rightist (A Long-distance Race of Thirty Years Ago), depiction of the educated youth (Women of Commanding Officer), portrayal of"Cultural Revolution"(Flyers), family planning (Frogs). Scenery and situations of the people include family breaking-up (A Song of Garlic Stems in Paradise), wheat-scouring backyards (Explosion), and castrating cattle (Cattle and Vital fatigue).We may have a deeper understanding of Mo Yan's absurd realism and narrative style by analyzing the individual cases and texts. Mo Yan's writing is marginal. He narrates by using absurd realism. His novels are of absurd nature. By using his own peculiar language and narrating style, he conveys a strong dislike and satire for the absurdity in human life, reveals the irrationality of the world, the groundlessness of the social existence, the ant-like humble life of the lower-class people, etc. In Mo Yan's literary world there exists a weird imagination of animals, the narrative in weird scenes, the weird eating ways, grotesque physical imagination and grotesque figures. The depiction of these absurd phenomena enables us to further appreciate his literary style. Mo Yan is acquainted with the theory of polyphony and dialogue. We may better comprehend the significance of style in literary works with the analysis of Mo Yan's works such as Forty-one Guns.Mo Yan has his own aesthetic ideology and political ecological consciousness. Certainly my analysis and interpretation of Mo Yan's aesthetic ideology are to some extent a kind of early understanding. And the interpretation of the ugliness of horror and filth might have been more thorough and dialectical. Mo Yan's literary world is wonderful, mysterious and splendid. In brief, I may further think about how I should enquire into the writers and texts in the dissertation. I may find out a solution, which is to employ the trans-disciplinary theories and concepts of sociology, anthropology, history, religion, folklore and linguistics to expand new realms and open new perspectives. Although the method is not refreshing, it is still an approach to studying Mo Yan and his works.