This content was published on 24 November 2021 – 11:31
Javier Triana
Beijing, Nov 24 (EFE) .- The Chinese writer Yan Lianke (Henan, 1958) considers that nothing in his novels is particularly surreal or tragic: “It’s life itself,” he says.
“If you see what happens in my town … seen from the rest of the world, it is surreal. But for me they are stories of my countrymen, of my land,” explains Yan in an interview with Efe on the occasion of his arrival this Wednesday to the bookstores of the translation into Spanish of “Balou’s Celestial Song” (Automática Editorial).
It is a videoconference conversation from Hong Kong – where the writer is now teaching – through a messaging application controlled by Chinese censorship and in which he leaves a lot to read between the lines.
QUESTION: Today “Balou’s Song of Heaven” is on sale, a heartbreaking tale of a mother’s sacrifice for her children. Drama and tragedy are very present in your work, why is it?
ANSWER: Chinese people are like that, full of dramas and tragedies. For me, it is life itself. It is not a drama: it is life.
Q: You resort to what you call “spiritual realism” in some of your books. What “spiritual realism” novel would you come up with with Mao Zedong’s resurrection in 2021 as the start?
A: Today you can’t think of something like this (the resurrection of Mao). You are not allowed to write about this. If it had been possible, I would have already written a novel!
Q: You have come across censorship and you have also practiced self-censorship, what did you feel on those occasions?
A: There have been times when the censorship towards my works has been very strong, and also the self-censorship. After 2004 and 2005, and in the following seven years. I then wanted to publish all my books.
It was the period of “The Ding Village Dream” (Automatic, 2013, about the sale of blood in Yan’s home province and the consequent AIDS epidemic) and “Fengya song”, and at that time I was very focused on correcting ideas for my books so they could be published.
Although I self-censored “The Ding Village Dream”, I also had trouble getting it published. Since then, I decided to continue at my own pace, because it is a book full of beauty and ethics, and even so they did not let me publish it. Because for me literature and art are the most important. Being able to write is the most important thing. It is the only thing that gives me happiness.
Publish or not is not that important to me anymore.
Q: Do you regret having self-censored, seeing the result?
A: In 2003 (while working on the project that led to “The Ding Village Dream”), I was going to write a very crazy book, like a field job, because I went to the village seven times and spent a lot of money. And my idea was to write a non-fiction novel, very real.
I ended up writing a very smooth book. I regret not having written the crazy book. If I had known they were going to censor it anyway, I would have written the crazy book.
The other book was “Fengya song”, which I corrected six times and still banned. I was very hurt.
Q: How do you think you are perceived as an author in China?
A: I am not a particularly beloved author, otherwise all of my books would be available. Now all I care about is how to write a good book. I have never paid attention to what others think of me.
I am very happy that my family, in my town, have not read my books, because they would think that I am crazy for writing such bad things about their town. And my closest relatives, my wife, for example, do not read my books.
Many people say that I write for foreigners, but I think it is a misunderstanding, because I do not speak a word of English. I only speak Henan dialect. How am I going to write for foreigners?
Q: Sometimes your novels present surreal situations, but some are inspired by reality. How do you see the relationship between the real and the surreal in China?
A: I don’t think my stories are surreal. When everyone has a wound, you no longer call it a wound: it is life itself. If you see what happens in my town … seen from the rest of the world, it is surreal. But for me they are stories of my countrymen, of my land.
Q: And what do you think is the relationship between the official truth and reality in China?
A: China is a complicated country of 1.4 billion people and 9.6 million square kilometers. And in China there is not just one reality. What happens is that a reality hides other types of reality. One guy denies other kinds of reality.
Wealth, patriotism … it’s a kind of reality, it’s real. But that hides other realities.
Q: How would you explain today’s China to a foreigner? How is China before the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games different from China before Beijing 2008?
A: It is very complicated. I do not know how to describe the China of today, it is a mystery. I used to say that China is a mixture of European capitalism and North Korean communism, but it is no longer so simple.
Maybe I can’t express it precisely, but for me, people in 2008 had a “more open” mindset, and now they are maybe “more united”. But for me maybe “more open” is better.
People may be more united around “one thought” now, and in 2008 people had a “more varied” thought. “Open” and “joined” are not antonyms, but they are not synonymous either.
For example: patriotism. In 2008 we had many ways of expressing it, but now it is expressed more simply.
Q: In the eyes of a foreigner, it seems that politics is ubiquitous in China, what do you think?
A: In China you cannot differentiate politics from life. It is not like in the western world, where life is life and politics is politics. In China, politics is part of everyday life. Politics is life and life is politics: it cannot be separated.
Q: At the worst moment of the pandemic in China, you made a plea for memory. He invited the public not to forget what was happening, why?
A: Forgetfulness is our collective disease. After what happened in 2013 with SARS … If we keep this fresh in mind, we will avoid a lot of problems.
Q: I have to ask you about your next work: will there be any work inspired by what happened in Wuhan or the pandemic?
A: Sure I will write something, but after the pandemic. Every writer in the world has the same idea, but for me the key problem is how to write it better than anyone else.
There have been many diseases throughout history, but this time it is something that everyone is experiencing. For a writer, it is not good that everyone has suffered, so you have to write it with caution. EFE
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