Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.1, 2019 

Vision of Folk Culture and the Spirit of World Literature—An Analysis of Bizarre Phenomena in Mo Yan’s Novels

(Abstract)

Yang Shousen

Mo Yan’s novels often involve bizarre phenomena involving animal spirits, ghosts and bewitched characters, which have been characterized by critics as grotesque, magical, dreamlike, hallucinatory and unreal,etc.. Besides of the influence by Marquez, Pu Songling and others, this feature is much more a comprehensive result of influence from Chinese rural folklore, folk stories and regional culture, and it is also owing to the psychological mechanism of Mo Yan’s sensitivity to strange things. The “evil spirits” in his novels not only reveal vision of folk culture, but also present the reflection on common values such as humanity, ecology and modern civilization.