最新高中英语课外读物

2012 Nobel Prize for Literature

The Swedish Academy in Stockholm on Thursday named Mo Yan winner of the Twenty-Twelve Nobel Prize in Literature.

The academy praised the Chinese writer for what it called his "hallucinatory realism." It noted his ability to combine folk stories, history and modern events in his works.

An academy official said Mister Mo said he was "overjoyed and scared" when he learned he had won the award. He will receive his Nobel diploma, a medal and more than one million dollars at a ceremony in Stockholm in December.

Mo Yan is a leading author of modern Chinese novels. He often writes from memories of his youth. He also sets many of his stories in the area where he was born – Shandong Province in northeastern China.

Mister Mo's nineteen eighty-seven book "Red Sorghum," is an example. It is about the extreme violence in rural eastern China during the Communist Revolution in the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties. The story describes the criminal culture of the time, Japan's occupation and the terrible conditions faced by farm workers. "Red Sorghum" was later made into a movie.

Mo Yan's other major works include, "Big Breasts and Wide Hips," "Republic of Wine" and "Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out."

The Royal Swedish Academy compared him to two twentieth century writers: American William Faulkner and Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Mo Yan is fifty-seven. His real name is Guan Moye. Mo Yan means "Don't Speak." The writer said he chose the name to remember to stop his tongue from getting him in trouble.

Only one other Chinese-language writer has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Gao Zingjian was honored in two thousand. However, he had been living in France for some time. And, China banned his books because they were critical of the Chinese government.

But, China is celebrating the victory of this native son. Minutes after the award was announced, millions of Chinese expressed pleasure and pride for Mo Yan on social media websites.