Contemporary Chinese Fiction and Its Relations with World Literature

There is no doubt that world literature has close relations with Chinese literature as Goethe first conceptualized the term Weltliteratur after he had read some Chinese literary works of minor importance through English or French translation. But unfortunately, for a long period of time, Chinese literature has never occupied a prominent position on the map of world literature, largely due to a long-standing “Eurocentric” and later “Western-centric” mode of thinking. Despite this, Chinese translators and literary scholars have in the past hundred years still spent much time and energy bringing various foreign, especially Western, literary doctrines and trends of literature and culture into China. Thus there has appeared an unbalanced situation of literary translation. On the one hand, numerous foreign literary works, especially Western literary works, have come to China through translation and critical introduction; but on the other hand, few contemporary Chinese literary works have been translated for the outside world, although quite a few classical and modern Chinese literary works have been translated into major foreign languages. Mo Yan is certainly one of the very few contemporary novelists who has attracted not only the literary book market but also the authoritative institutions, including the Swedish Academy, which awarded him the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012. He was naturally very happy about that, but at the same time he expressed his worry and hope for Chinese literature: “my next dream will be that one day, some young Western writers will say that their work is inspired and influenced by certain Chinese writers.”1 This is also the hope and dream that many other contemporary Chinese writers have, though most contemporary Chinese writers, including Mo Yan himself, started their writing career under the influence of foreign literature, especially Western literature. To them, Western literature is almost equal to world literature, and to read and study Western literary works means to read and study world literature. Similarly, to go to the West simply means to go global, as international literary circles are always dominated by Western literature. But even so, we could still find that quite a few important contemporary Chinese novelists have succeeded in being among world literature. Not only do their novels sell well in international book markets, but they are also critically discussed by international literary critical circles and scholarship. Of these writers, I will discuss here four representatives who have acquired considerable international reputations and influence with their outstanding achievements and unique characteristics. They should be recognized as world-class writers for their writings are certainly of world significance.