| Chapter : | Introduction: Hunger and Loneliness: Mo Yan’s Muses in Becoming a Writer |
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Art Institute, Mo Yan was enlightened by the lectures of many well-known writers, including Wang Meng (
), Zhang Chengzhi (
), Ding Ling (
), and Liu Baiyu (
). In his own words,
Soon thereafter, Mo Yan published the novella “A Transparent Red Radish,” which brought him immediate recognition. During his two years of study at the Art Institute (from 1984 to 1986), Mo Yan produced several powerful novellas and short stories. In March 1986, the novella “Honggaoliang” (
) [Red sorghum] was published by Renmin wenxue (
) [People’s literature], the most important official literary magazine in China; the piece was quickly reprinted by many other magazines.18 Mo Yan was also admitted into the Chinese Writers Association that same month, which meant that his identity as a writer was now formally established. The year 1986 was an extremely productive one for Mo Yan: he finished four other novellas and put them together with “Red Sorghum” to form his first novel, The Red Sorghum Family,which was published in 1987. By this time, he was already regarded as one of the most important writers in post-Mao China; his rise was the most meteoric among contemporary Chinese authors.
After graduating from the PLA Art Institute in the summer of 1986, Mo Yan stayed in the army and continued to write. In September 1988, he was admitted to a master’s program at the Beijing Lu Xun Literary Institute.
As a result of China’s open-door policy after Mao’s death in 1976, Mo Yan had the opportunity to read translations of foreign literary works. He has never denied the influences of foreign literature on him—in fact,