Yan Lianke facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yan Lianke
Yan Lianke in 2010
Born	(1958-08-24) August 24, 1958 (age 66) Henan, China
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Henan University; People's Literature Army Arts College
Period	1980–present
Genre	fiction, prose, script, literacy theory
Notable awards	Lu Xun Literary Prize, Franz Kafka Prize
Spouse	Zhai Lisha
Children	Yan Songwei

LiteratureXcange Festival in Aarhus (Denmark 2024)
Photo Hreinn Gudlaugsson)

Yan Lianke (Chinese: 阎连科; born August 24, 1958) is a famous Chinese writer. He writes novels and short stories. He lives in Beijing, China.

Yan Lianke's stories often use humor and irony to comment on society. Because of this, some of his most well-known books have been banned in China. He has even said that he tries to censor himself when writing to avoid his books being banned.

Some of his famous novels include Serve the People!, Lenin's Kisses, and Dream of Ding Village. He has also written many collections of short stories.

In 2014, Yan Lianke won the Franz Kafka Prize. He has also been nominated twice for the Man Booker International Prize. His writing style is unique. It is often described as experimental and dream-like. He calls his own style "mythorealism."

About Yan Lianke

Yan Lianke was born in Song County, Henan Province, in central China. Even though he lives in Beijing now, he says his heart is still in Henan. Many of his stories are based on life in Henan, like his novel Dream of Ding Village.

He joined the army in 1978. He studied politics and education at Henan University, graduating in 1985. Later, in 1991, he earned a degree in literature from the People's Liberation Army Art Institute.

An interesting story from his childhood is about his family home. A farmer tore it down because he thought Yan's offers to buy the land were too low. The farmer didn't realize the house was valuable because it belonged to Yan.

His Writing Career

Yan Lianke published his first short story in 1979. Since then, he has written 14 novels and over 40 short stories.

His early stories were very realistic, showing life as it truly was. But by the late 1990s, his style changed a lot. His newer works are full of wild imagination and creative stories that use symbols. His dramatic plots often feel like myths. They show how people live in a deep, funny, and sometimes strange way.

Many of his stories are set around Balou Mountain. This place has become a very important setting in his books. It is one of the most famous fictional places in Chinese literature. This is especially true for his "Balou Mountain Series," which includes The Passage of Time, Hard as Water, and Lenin's Kisses. These novels describe Chinese history and life in a very sharp and often absurd way.

Yan Lianke's characters are often unusual and have complex thoughts. This was a big change from his earlier works. His stories often surprise readers and cause discussions.

When Lenin's Kisses was published, Yan Lianke became a "sensitive" writer in China. He openly talked about needing a "realism that goes beyond reality." He said that living in modern China makes you question what is real.

His books have been praised by many international writers and critics. For example, a writer from Le Monde newspaper in France called him one of the world's great writers. The Guardian newspaper described him as a master of satire with a rich imagination.

His books Serve the People! and Dream of Ding Village became well-known partly because they were banned.

His novel The Four Books was published in 2011 in Taiwan. Around this time, he talked about "Realism of the spirit(s)." He believed Chinese literature should show "the invisible reality" and "the reality that is hidden." He put this idea into practice in his novels The Explosion Chronicles and The Day the Sun Died. These books show Chinese life in a very imaginative way. They often show his view of China as a "dark" and "desperate" place.

Yan Lianke wants to create Chinese literature that has a modern, global feel. He wants it to be different from Western styles like Surrealism or Magical Realism. His novels like Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, Lenin's Kisses, The Four Books, and The Explosion Chronicles have been translated into many languages. They are read widely in America, Europe, and Australia. These translations have received a lot of attention and praise.

Yan Lianke's stories show his worries about the Chinese people, their reality, and history. Each of his novels also uses a new structure and language style. Many people think his different styles and his willingness to break rules make him stand out from other Chinese writers. He even calls himself "a traitor of literary writing" because he likes to challenge norms. He is a pioneer in modern Chinese literature. He has gained international fame without any support from the Chinese government.

Essays and Non-Fiction

Besides his novels, Yan Lianke also writes many lyrical essays. These essays are quite different from his fiction. While his novels are imaginative and powerful, his essays are often gentle, poetic, and refined.

His long essay My Father's Generation and I and his collection House No.711 describe the daily lives of Chinese people and nature. They have a familiar, lyrical style for Chinese readers. The styles of his fiction and essays are so different that it's hard to believe they are by the same writer! His non-fiction works show him as a complex and interesting person.

What is Mythorealism?

Mythorealism (shenshi zhuyi 神实主义) is a term Yan Lianke created. It's a way of blending different writing styles and storytelling elements. The goal is to create a unique literary reality that goes beyond traditional realism. Yan Lianke describes it as a "creative process" that aims to "go beyond realism."

According to scholar Haiyan Xie, mythorealism combines Chinese and Western literary ideas. But it is still mostly based on Chinese culture and literature. This style often avoids traditional storytelling rules. For example, it might not follow a straight timeline or logical cause-and-effect.

Weijie Song, a professor of Chinese Literature, says that Yan Lianke's mythorealism creates a "grotesque, comic, spectacular, miserable, absurd, and deformed literary world." He does this by changing how he describes his hometown and even his old house in Beijing.

So, mythorealism is like a special mix of ideas. It's both a creative process and a writing style. It tries to reshape reality by adding spiritual myths and magical events. It uses ideas from many different sources and traditions.

His Novels

Serve the People!

This novel is set during the Cultural Revolution in China. This was a time when Mao Zedong was highly praised. The story is about a forbidden relationship between Liu Lian, the wife of a powerful military leader, and a young soldier named Wu Dawang. The book shows the difficult choices people had to make during the Cultural Revolution.

The title "Serve the People!" comes from a famous saying by Mao Zedong. This phrase was very common during the Cultural Revolution. Millions of Chinese people had to read an article with this title. When Yan Lianke's book was published, the Chinese government ordered the publisher to take back all 40,000 copies. This ban actually made the book even more popular!

Dream of Ding Village

Yan Lianke's novel Dream of Ding Village (丁庄梦) tells the story of people living with AIDS. It shows how they try to survive with little help from others. To make sure his novel was accurate, Yan Lianke visited people with AIDS and even lived with villagers for a while.

Dream of Ding Village has been compared to The Plague by Albert Camus. This book was published in Hong Kong in 2006. The Chinese government banned it again because of its content.

Other Important Works

Yan Lianke started publishing in 1979. He has written 15 novels, over 50 novellas (short novels), more than 40 short stories, and many essays and scripts. However, because his works are sometimes controversial and banned by the Chinese government, many of them have not been published in China. These include the novels Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, The Four Books, and The Dimming Sun.

Many of his works have been translated into over 30 languages. These include English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Almost all of these translated works have received a lot of attention and praise in other countries.

List of Works

Novels

Short Story and Novella Collections

Essay Collections

Translated Works

Here is a list of some of Yan Lianke's novels that have been translated into English.

Awards and Honours

Yan Lianke has received many awards for his writing:

• 1997 Lu Xun Literary Prize for "Huang Jin Dong" (黄金洞)
• 2001 Lu Xun Literary Prize for "Years Months Days" (年月日)
• 2005 Yazhou Zhoukan, "The Best Ten Books Award" for Dream of Ding Village.
• 2004 Lao She Literary Award for Lenin's Kisses (《受活》)
• 2005 Asia Weekly 10 Best Novels award for Dream of Ding Village
• 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, Dream of Ding Village, longlist.
• 2014 Franz Kafka Prize, winner.
• 2016 Man Booker International Prize, The Four Books, shortlist.
• 2016 Dream of the Red Chamber Award, The Day the Sun Died, winner.
• 2017 Grand Prix of Literary Associations, The Explosion Chronicles, shortlisted in the Belles-Lettres Category.
• 2017 Man Booker International Prize, Long listed The Explosion Chronicles
• 2021 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature
• 2021 Elected a Royal Society of Literature International Writer