Editing Mo Yan (section)

==Works==
Mo Yan began his career as a writer in the [[reform and opening up]] period, publishing dozens of short stories and novels in Chinese. His first published short story was "Falling Rain on a Spring Night", published in September 1981.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2012/yan/biographical/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1986, the five parts that formed his first novel, ''[[Red Sorghum Clan|Red Sorghum]]'' (1987), were published serially. It is a non-chronological novel about the generations of a Shandong family between 1923 and 1976. The author deals with upheavals in Chinese history such as the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]], and the [[Cultural Revolution]], but in an unconventional way; for example from the point of view of the invading Japanese soldiers.<ref name="Inge" />

His second novel, ''The Garlic Ballads'', is based on a true story of when the farmers of Gaomi Township rioted against a government that would not buy its crops. ''[[The Republic of Wine]]'' is a satire around gastronomy and alcohol, which uses [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] as a metaphor for Chinese self-destruction, following Lu Xun.<ref name="Inge" /> ''Big Breasts & Wide Hips'' deals with female bodies, from a grandmother whose breasts are shattered by Japanese bullets, to a festival where one of the child characters, Shangguan Jintong, blesses each woman of his town by stroking her breasts.<ref name="Chan" /> The book was controversial in China because some [[Chinese New Left|leftist critics]] objected to ''Big Breasts''' perceived negative portrayal of Communist soldiers.<ref name="Chan" />

Mo Yan wrote ''[[Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out]]'' in 42 days.<ref name="Leach" /> He composed the more than 500,000 characters contained in the original manuscript on traditional Chinese paper using only ink and a writing brush. He prefers writing his novels by hand rather than by typing using a [[pinyin]] [[input method]], because the latter method "limits your vocabulary".<ref name="Leach" /> ''Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out'' is a meta-fiction about the story of a landlord who is reincarnated in the form of various animals during the Chinese [[land reform]] movement.<ref name="Williford" /> The landlord observes and satirizes Communist society, such as when he (as a donkey) forces two mules to share food with him, because "[in] the age of communism&nbsp;... mine is yours and yours is mine."<ref name="Huang" />

''[[Pow! (novel)|Pow!]]'', Mo Yan's first work to be translated into English after receiving the Nobel Prize, is about a young storytelling boy named Luo who was famous in his village for eating so much meat.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-01-18|title=Pow! by Mo Yan – review|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/18/pow-mo-yan-review|access-date=2021-12-07|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> His village is so carnivorous it is an obsession that leads to corruption.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Garner|first=Dwight|date=2013-01-01|title=A Meaty Tale, Carnivorous and Twisted|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/books/pow-by-mo-yan.html|access-date=2021-12-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''Pow!'' cemented his writing style as “hallucinatory realism”.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 2012|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2012/press-release/|access-date=2021-12-07|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}</ref> Another one of his works, [[Frog (novel)|''Frog'']], Yan's latest novel published, focuses on the cause and consequences of China's [[one-child policy]]. Set in a small rural Chinese town called Gaomi, the narrator Tadpole tells the story of his aunt Gugu, who once was a hero for delivering life into the world as a midwife, and now takes away life as an abortion provider.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hogensen|first=Brooke Ann|date=2015-11-01|title=Mo Yan, Frog: A Novel|url=http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/2328/35657/1/bitstream|journal=Transnational Literature|language=en|volume=8|issue=1|issn=1836-4845}}</ref> [[Steven Moore (author)|Steven Moore]] from the ''Washington Post'' wrote, "another display of Mo Yan's attractively daring approach to fiction. The Nobel committee chose wisely."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Moore|first=Steven|date=23 March 2015|title=Book review: 'Frog,' by Mo Yan|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-world-frog-by-mo-yan/2015/03/23/cc5e8834-cc01-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html|access-date=6 December 2021|newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>