Nobel Laureate Mo Yan on Russia & Russian Literature

On traveling around Russia:

“This is my fourth visit to Russia. The first time was in 1995. Back then, I traveled from Manchuria through the borderlands. I loved the hills, the nature, and the landscape.

“The second time was in 2007, when I participated in the ‘Moscow Book Fair’. Back then, my most profound impression was the depth of the Moscow Metro (subway system). It seemed like an eternity as I rode the escalator back up to the surface.

Last year, my friends and I visited Irkutsk and marveled at Lake Baikal. And, of course, Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok. Why did I visit these places? Because of the works of Valentin Rasputin and Viktor Astafyev. I wanted to visit the places where these stories were written. I saw the Angara River that Rasputin described. Now my dream is to visit the Yenisei River. The great Siberian rivers that flow through these lands showcase the richness of Russian nature.

The sites associated with Mikhail Sholokhov also made a deep impression on me. At last, I saw the mighty Don River with my own eyes. I stood in the very places where the movie ‘Quiet Don’ was filmed. I’ve read that novel many times. For me, this place is sacred. Sholokhov’s grandson, Alexander, drove us around these places. He cherishes the memories of his grandfather. It seems their voices even sound alike, so I saw the grandfather in the grandson!

On Russian literature:

The very first author who inspired me was Leo Tolstoy. I visited Yasnaya Polyana. In addition, I was awarded the Yasnaya Polyana Prize, which is a great honor for me. The depiction of battle scenes in the novel ‘War and Peace’ had a huge influence on me. If you recall my novel ‘Red Gaoliang’, you’ll find echoes of the ‘Battle of Austerlitz’, as described by Tolstoy, in the scene depicting the Chinese people’s resistance to the Japanese invaders.

My second idol is Dostoevsky. ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ is one of those novels that sits on my desk and I often return to it. I also frequently read his other works.

I still also often re-read Turgenev. Speaking of Soviet classics, I'd mention Sholokhov. Let's recall the peace and endless fields in ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’. In my works, the descriptions of nature are probably not without Sholokhov's influence. When reading ‘And Quiet Flows the Don’, we notice the author's sensitivity: he describes not only sights and sounds, but also various smells – wildflowers, grasses, even cow dung. I, too, am very sensitive to sounds and smells. By the way, every time I travel somewhere, I take notes and then publish essays. My current trip to the banks of the Don River will also be documented.