Soul Mountain (76 page)

The writer writes what he wants without concern for recompense not only to affirm his self but also to challenge society. This challenge is not pretence and the writer has no need to inflate his ego by becoming a hero or a fighter. Heroes and fighters struggle to achieve some great work or to establish some meritorious deed and these lie beyond the scope of literary works. If the writer wants to challenge society it must be through language and he must rely on the characters and incidents of his works, otherwise he can only harm literature. Literature is not angry shouting and furthermore cannot turn an individual's indignation into accusations. It is only when the feelings of the writer as an individual are dispersed in a work that his feelings will withstand the ravages of time and live on for a long time.

Therefore it is actually not the challenge of the writer to society but rather the challenge of his works. An enduring work is of course a powerful response to the times and society of the writer. The clamour of the writer and his actions may have vanished but as long as there are readers his voice in his writings continues to reverberate.

Indeed such a challenge cannot transform society. It is merely an individual aspiring to transcend the limitations of the social ecology and taking a very inconspicuous stance. However this is by no means an ordinary stance for it is one that takes pride in being human. It would be sad if human history is only manipulated by the unknowable laws and moves blindly with the current so that the different voices of individuals cannot be heard. It is in this sense that literature fills in the gaps of history. When the great laws of history are not used to explain humankind it will be possible for people to leave behind their own voices. History is not all that humankind possesses, there is also the legacy of literature. In literature the people are inventions but they retain an essential belief in their own self-worth.

Honourable members of the Academy, I thank you for awarding this Nobel Prize to literature, to literature that is unwavering in its independence, that avoids neither human suffering nor political oppression and that furthermore does not serve politics. I thank all of you for awarding this most prestigious prize for works that are far removed from the writings of the market, works that have aroused little attention but are actually worth reading. At the same time, I also thank the Swedish Academy for allowing me to ascend this dais to speak before the eyes of the world. A frail individual's weak voice that is hardly worth listening to and that normally would not be heard in the public media has been allowed to address the world. However I believe that this is precisely the meaning of the Nobel Prize and I thank everyone for this opportunity to speak.

*  *  *  

Translation by Mabel Lee

Major Publications by Gao Xingjian

Xiandai xiaoshuo jiqiao chutan
(A Preliminary Discussion of the Art of Modern Fiction). Guangzhou: Huacheng Chubanshe, 1981. [Literary criticism]

You zhi gezi jiao Hongchunr
(A Pigeon Called Red Beak). Beijing Chubanshe, 1985. [A novella]

Gao Xingjian xiju ji
(Collected Plays of Gao Xingjian). Beijing: Qunzhong Chubanshe, 1985. [Includes the plays
Juedui xinhao
(Absolute Signal),
Chezhan
(Bus Stop),
Yeren
(Wild Man),
Duibai
(Soliloquy),
Xiandai zhezixi sichu
(Four Modern Opera Excerpts)]

Dui yizhong xiandai xiju de zuiqiu
(In Search of a Modern Form of Dramatic Representation). Beijing: Zhongguo Xiju Chubanshe, 1987. [Essays on theatre and dramatic representation]

Gei wo laoye mai yugan
(Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather). Taipei: Lianhe fWenxue Chubanshe, 1988. [A collection of short stories]

Lingshan
(Soul Mountain). Taipei: Lianjing Chubanshe, 1990. [A novel]

Shanhaijing zhuan
(Story of the
Classic of Mountains and Seas
). Hong Kong: Tiandi Tushu Youxian Gongsi, 1993. [A play based on myths and legends in the
Classic of Mountains and Seas
]

Dialoguer/Interloquer
. Paris: MEET, 1994. [French version by Gao Xingjian]

Gao Xingjian xiju liuzhong
(Six plays by Gao Xingjian). Taipei: Dijiao, 1995. [Includes the plays
Bi’an
(Other Shore),
Mingcheng
(Netherworld),
Sheng sheng man bianzou
(Variations on a Slow Tune),
Shanhaijing zhuan
(Story of the
Classic of Mountains and Seas
),
Taowang
(Absconding),
Sheng si jie
(Between Life and Death),
Duihua yu fanjie
(Dialogue and Rebuttal),
Yeyoushen
(Nocturnal Wanderer)]

Le Somnambule
. Carnières-Morlanwelz (Belgium): Editions Lansman, 1995. [French version by Gao Xingjian]

Ink Paintings by Gao Xingjian
. Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 1995.

Goût de l’encre
. Paris: Editions voix Richard Meir, 1996.

Meiyou zhuyi
(Without Isms). Hong Kong: Tiandi Tushu Youxian Gongsi, 1996. [Essays on literature and art]

Zhoumo sichongzou
(Weekend Quartet). Hong Kong: Xin Shiji Chubanshe, 1996. [Includes the plays
Zhoumo sichongzou
(Weekend Quartet),
Shunjian
(One Instant),
Sheng sheng man bianzou
(Variations on a Slow Tune),
Wo shuo ciwei
(I Tell the Hedgehog)]

Au plus près du réel
:
Dialogues sur l’écriture (1994–1997)
, co-author Denis Bourgeois. Paris: Éditions de l’aube, 1997. [Recorded conversations on literature over three years between Gao Xingjian and Denis Bourgeois]

Quatre quatuors pour un week-end
. Carnières-Morlanwelz (Belgium): Editions Lansman, 1998. [French version by Gao Xingjian]

L’Encre et la lumière
. Paris: Editions voix Richard Meir, 1998.

Yige ren de shengjing
(One Man’s Bible). Taipei: Lianjing Chubanshe, 1999. [A novel]

Une Autre esthétique
. Paris: Editions Cercle d’art, 2000.

English Language Translations of Gao Xingjian’s Works

Aspfors, Lena and Torbjörn Lodén, trans., “The Voice of the Individual”,
The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies
, 3 (1993).

Besio, Kimberley, trans., “
Bus Stop
: A Lyrical Comedy on Life in One Act” in Haiping Yan, ed.,
Theatre and Society: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama
, Armonk, New York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1998.

Gilbert C. F. Fong, trans.,
The Other Shore: Plays by Gao Xingjian
, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1999.

Lau, Winnie, Deborah Sauviat and Martin Williams, trans., “Without Isms”,
The Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia
, 27 & 28 (1995–1996).

Lee, Mabel, trans.,
Soul Mountain
, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2000.

Ng, Mau-sang, trans., “Contemporary Technique and National Character in Fiction”,
Renditions
, 19 & 20 (1983).

Riley, Jo, trans., “The Other Side: A Contemporary Drama Without Acts” in Martha P. Y. Cheung and Jane C. C. Lai,
An Oxford Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama
, Oxford and New York: Hong Kong University Press, 1997.

Roubicek, Bruno, trans., “
Wild Man
: A Contemporary Chinese Spoken Drama”,
Asian Theatre Journal
, 7. 2 (1990).

Critical Works in English on Gao Xingjian

Comprehensive listings of works on Gao Xingjian in Chinese, Swedish, French, German, Japanese and English are contained in Gilbert C. F. Fong (trans.),
The Other Shore: Plays by Gao Xingjian
, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1999, and in Henry Z. Y. Zhao,
Towards a Modern Zen Theatre: Gao Xingjian and Chinese Theatre Experimentalism
, London: SOAS Publications, 2000 (in print).

Barmé, Geremie, “A Touch of the Absurd: Introducing Gao Xingjian, and His Play
The Bus Stop
”,
Renditions
, 19 & 20 (1983).

Burckhardt, Olivier, “The Voice of One in the Wilderness”,
Quadrant
(April 2000).

Chen Xiaomei, “A Wildman between Two Cultures: Some Paradigmatic Remarks on ‘Influence Studies’”,
Comparative Literature Studies
, 29. 4 (1992).

Lee, Mabel, “Without Politics: Gao Xingjian on Literary Creation”,
The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies
, 6 (1995).

“Walking Out of Other People’s Prisons: Liu Zaifu and Gao Xingjian on Chinese Literature in the 1990s”,
Asian
&
African Studies
, 5. 1 (1996).

“Personal Freedom in Twentieth Century China: Reclaiming the Self in Yang Lian’s
Yi
and Gao Xingjian’s
Lingshan
”, in Mabel Lee and Michael Wilding, eds,
History, Literature and Society: Essays in Honour of S. N. Mukherjee
, Sydney and New Delhi: Sydney Association for Studies in Culture and Society, 1997.

“Gao Xingjian’s
Lingshan/Soul Mountain
: Modernism and the Chinese Writer”, HEAT, 4 (1997).

“Gao Xingjian’s Dialogue with Two Dead Poets from Shaoxing: Xu Wei and Lu Xun”, in R. D. Findeisen and R. H. Gassman, eds,
Autumn Floods: Essays in Honour of Márian Gálik
, Bern: Lang, 1998.

“Gao Xingjian on the Issue of Literary Creation for the Modern Writer”,
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
, 9. 1 & 2 (1999).

“Pronouns as Protagonists: Gao Xingjian’s
Lingshan
as Autobiography”,
China Studies
, 5 (1999).

Li Jianyi, “Gao Xingjian’s
The Bus-Stop:
Chinese Traditional Theatre and Western Avant-garde”, Masters thesis, University of Alberta, 1991.

Lodén, Torbjörn, “World Literature with Chinese Characteristics: On a Novel by Gao Xingjian”,
The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies
, 4 (1993).

Ma Sen, “The Theatre of the Absurd in Mainland China: Gao Xingjian’s
The Bus Stop
”,
Issues and Studies: A Journal of China Studies and International Affairs
, 25. 8 (1989).

Quah Sy Ren, “Gao Xingjian and China’s Alternative Theatre of the 1980s”, M. Phil. thesis, University of Cambridge, 1997.

The Theatre of Gao Xingjian: Experimentation Within the Chinese Context and Towards New Modes of Representation”, PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 1999.

Riley, Josephine, and Else Unterrieder, “The Myth of Gao Xingjian”, in Josephine Riley and Else Unterrieder, eds,
Haishi Zou Hao: Chinese Poetry, Drama and Literature of the 1980s
, Bonn: Engelhard-Ng Verlag, 1989.

Sauviat, Deborah, “The Challenge to the ‘Official Discourse’ in Gao Xingjian’s Early Fiction”, BA Honours thesis, University of Sydney, 1996.

Tam Kwok-kan, “Drama of Dilemma: Waiting as Form and Motif in
The Bus Stop
and
Waiting for Godot
”, in Yun-Tong Luk, ed.,
Studies in Chinese–Western Comparative Drama
, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1990.

Tay, William, “Avant-garde Theatre in Post-Mao China:
The Bus Stop
by Gao Xingjian”, in Howard Goldblatt ed.,
Worlds Apart: Recent Chinese Writing and Its Audiences
, Armonk and New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1990.

Zhao, Henry Y. H.,
Towards a Modern Zen Theatre: Gao Xingjian and Chinese Theatre Experimentalism
, London: SOAS Publications, 2000 (in print).

Zou Jiping, “Gao Xingjian and Chinese Experimental Theatre”, PhD dissertation, University of Illinois, 1994.

About the Author

G
AO
X
INGJIAN
(whose name is pronounced gow shing-jen) is the first Chinese recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in 1940 in Jiangxi province in eastern China, he studied in state schools, earned a university degree in French in Beijing, and embarked on a life of letters. Choosing exile in 1987, he settled in Paris, where he completed
Soul Mountain
two years later. In 1992 he was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He is a playwright and painter as well as a fiction writer and critic.