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Thirteen Steps is a novel by Nobel prize-winning author Mo Yan. It first appeared in 1988 in the literary magazine Wenxue si ji. It later appeared in book form in April 1989.

Sylvie Gentil [fr] translated the French version, Les treize pas, which was published by Éditions du Seuil in 1995.

Plot

The protagonist is a madman locked in an iron cage. He relies upon the audience (or listeners) to feed him chalk so that he can prolong his own life and spit out tales of the miraculous and inconceivable about the lives of others. Through these unreliable narrative bits and pieces, community histories are being reinvented, creating ”a grotesque and unpleasant aura” as it critiques the excesses of China’s capitalist development.

Reception

Bettina L. Knapp of Hunter College reviewed the French translation; Knapp stated that the author, referring to his intent to "brutalize" the people reading the book along with the characters within, "succeeds most admirablyin unadulterated, brilliant verbal arrays." According to Knapp, "macabre humor" is present.

References

1. Riemenschnitter, Andrea (2012). "Mo Yan". In Moran, Thomas; Xu, Ye (eds.). Chinese Fiction Writers, 1950-2000. Detroit: Gale Cengage Learning. pp. 179–194. ISBN 9780787696450.
2. ^ Knapp, Bettina L. (Autumn 1995). "Reviewed Work: Les treize pas by Mo Yan, Sylvie Gentil". World Literature Today. 69 (4, Focus on Luisa Valenzuela): 870. doi:10.2307/40151811. JSTOR 40151811.
3. Kang, Liu, ed. (1993-11-16). Politics, Ideology, and Literary Discourse in Modern China: Theoretical Interventions and Cultural Critique. Durham and London: Duke University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0822314165.
4. Wang, David Der-Wei; Berry, Michael (2000). "The Literary World of Mo Yan". World Literature Today. 74 (3): 487–494. doi:10.2307/40155814. JSTOR 40155814.
5. Chan, Ching-kiu Stephen (1992). "《放下屠刀成佛後，再操凶器便成仙：莫言＜十三步＞的說話邏輯》 "On the Logic of Discourse in Mo Yan's The Thirteen Steps". In Ping-leung, Chan (ed.). Studies in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-9620409738.

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