Why did novelist Mo Yan use drama to write an anti-corruption story novel | Mo Yan | Drama
When I received the editing job for "Crocodile", I cheered in my heart not only because it was a heavyweight new work by Teacher Mo Yan, but also because of its unique genre - drama. After work, I always watch a few plays every year; Since the beginning of this year, the theater has warmed up, and my enthusiasm for drama has been unprecedentedly high.
After watching the performance, I thought several times about when I would also make a script, but I didn't expect my wish to come true so quickly. Who can say that personally editing the latest drama from a Nobel laureate in literature is not the best nourishment?
"Leading readers to understand 'Dramatist Mo Yan'"
It's not an exaggeration to say that while receiving the documents for "Crocodile" and waiting for the original manuscript to be printed out one by one, I could already feel the vibration just by quickly glancing at the last scene in the drama. However, I have found that some friends have bright eyes when they hear "Mo Yan's new work", but are hesitant to speak when they hear "plays". On the one hand, it has to be said that compared to novels and essays, drama may be a literary genre that is more easily overlooked by readers. Many people may think that going directly to the theater is not enough, why read pure text scripts without sound, light, and light stimulation? Some literary enthusiasts may also believe that compared to novels, scripts are somewhat thin and not enjoyable to read. On the other hand, apart from professionals and loyal fans, most readers may still have a simple impression of Mo Yan as a "novelist," and when they hear "Mo Yan's plays," they may not necessarily feel that it is a "cross-border creation.". In fact, Mo Yan has always had a profound theatrical complex.
In recent years, Mo Yan has occasionally mentioned his obsession with drama and enthusiasm for drama creation in his conversations and speeches, which is not a sudden trend. Many people know that the short story "Spring Night Rain" was Mo Yan's first published work. In fact, before this, he also created a play called "Divorce". This unpublished play is the true first work - Mo Yan's creative career began with drama. For a long time, Mo Yan has never let go of his theatrical creations and has written multiple scripts, including plays such as "Farewell My Concubine", "The Wife of a Boiler Worker", "Our Jingke", film and television dramas such as "Romantic Song of Heroes", "Heroes, Beauties, and Steeds", and "Auntie Wearing Red Silk"; In recent years, he has also devoted himself to creating more niche traditional Chinese operas, publishing literary scripts such as "Jin Yi" and "Gao Liang Jiu". Mo Yan's literary creation is quite extensive, and it is easy to find the presence of drama in other genres of works. Readers who pay attention to Mo Yan must be familiar with the "Maoqiang" local opera in Shandong. Mo Yan often talks about this kind of opera that he grew up listening to in his speeches and essays, and based on this, creates the "Maoqiang" in one of his representative works, "Sandalwood Punishment", making it an impressive core element in the novel; In another important representative novel, the award-winning work "Frog" by Mao Dun Literature Award, Mo Yan directly ends with a play. As a result, the work not only captivates the content, but also integrates novels, letters, and dramas in form, bringing readers a unique polyphonic reading experience. From this, it is not difficult to see that drama has always been Mo Yan's "true love".
Whether in terms of the number of theatrical creations, or in terms of the honors and popularity of plays such as "Our Jingke" and "Farewell My Concubine", Mo Yan lives up to his reputation as a "playwright". However, his achievements as a novelist are too dazzling, causing many readers to inadvertently overlook his brilliance as a playwright.
As a publishing team, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House Shanghai Branch · KEY Culture has always attached great importance to Mo Yan's theatrical works. The community published hardcover and paperback versions of "Mo Yan's Drama Series" in 2017 and 2020, respectively. This series consists of "Auntie Wearing Red Silk" and "Our Jing Ke". There has not been a systematic compilation of Mo Yan's film and television drama series and drama series in the market before. These two works are also included in the 2019 collection of Mo Yan's works. At the same time, the editorial department specifically selected Mo Yan's calligraphy work "Ode to the High People" to be made into a folded long scroll as one of the gifts in the collection gift box. "Ode to the High People" is an excerpt from the play "Our Jing Ke", and we hope that this eye-catching gift will become an opportunity for new readers to pay attention to and read Mo Yan's plays. We also organized a series of book sharing activities around Mo Yan's drama. From the feedback, it can be seen that more and more literary enthusiasts have come to understand and fall in love with Mo Yan's plays.
Now, Mo Yan's painstaking work "Crocodile", which has been conceived for more than ten years and carefully revised multiple times, has finally been completed. To do this work well, we not only hope to bring readers a high-quality play that is rare in contemporary times, but also hope to further lead ordinary readers and "passersby fans" to break through the habitual cognition of "novelist Mo Yan", appreciate the style of "playwright Mo Yan", and deeply immerse ourselves in Mo Yan's colorful and charming theatrical world. Therefore, taking "Mo Yan as a playwright" as the starting point to preheat the book "Crocodile", emphasizing the unique positioning of "Crocodile" as Mo Yan's "magnificent transformation from a novelist to a playwright", has become a common idea among our editors and marketing department teachers, and has also set the tone for the subsequent promotion and promotion of this book.
"A really good story that suits the stage"
Mo Yan refers to himself as a "storyteller", and his strong storytelling is a prominent feature of his novels. Even works with relatively obscure meanings such as "Inverted" and "Burning the Flower Basket Pavilion" have full plots. When editing Teacher Mo Yan's works, I often feel that many of his novels are suitable for adaptation into dramas. This strong sense of drama comes from the prominent visual sense between the lines, the superb ability to shape characters, and the solid and imaginative plot settings. In "White Cotton", the cold and greasy cotton and the bright red Fang Biyu, in "The Woman Embracing Flowers", the eerie woman closely following the captain, in "Frog", the aunt extends her hand from the obstetrician's mercy to the dying Wang Dan in the rapids... Thinking of these novels, there will always be vivid faces and clear scenes emerging before our eyes. Text stimulates hearing, touch, and smell, allowing people to immediately immerse themselves in the context of the story even after a long time. Novels are so full of dramatic tension, written in the form of drama, and directly present the essence of the story.
Mo Yan once said in a video discussing drama, "Whether writing a novel or a play, the first thing is to shape the characters. There should be standing characters on the stage of the play, and there should also be unforgettable, personalized, and typical literary characters in the novel. This is actually completely similar."
Reading "Crocodile", one can first clearly feel Mo Yan's emphasis on character development and his insistence on character richness. Unlike novels that can provide detailed descriptions, dramas focus on portraying characters through dialogue, which precisely demonstrates Mo Yan's superb skills in shaping characters. "Crocodile" begins with a dialogue between the protagonist Wuwei and his confidant Mufei: even though Wuwei corrects every word, Mufei habitually repeatedly calls him "mayor"; Mufei introduced the situation in the United States, and his shameless first reaction was, "What does it have to do with me?" - he felt that the reality of being here was "a dream," and his heart was still longing for the Qingyun Bridge, which was finally opened in China. He then self mocked, "It's possible that I'm hosting the opening ceremony a year later, and more likely, I'm writing explanatory materials."; When Mufei pointed out that "some people online say this bridge is a paper kite," he angrily rebuked and then changed his tone, admitting that there was serious corruption during the bridge construction process, but stating that "that was part of the budget.". A few concise back and forth movements clearly depict the identity, personality, and background of the characters in the story.
As the core of the story, Wuwei is a typical complex of contradictions: despite engaging in profit transmission activities, it confidently talks about the "people"; It is both a "literati" who exudes philosophy and poetry both inside and outside the words, and a bureaucrat who unconsciously uses humorous endings such as "this is the case" and "my speech is over"; I don't like opportunists like Niubu, but I don't realize that I am the one who loves to say beautiful things and escape reality the most. He knows what is right and aspires to be a good person, but is unaware or unwilling to admit his hypocrisy. Such characters themselves are a play, inspiring endless imagination for readers and providing ample room for performers to unleash their potential. It can be imagined that when performed on stage, different actors with different focuses will showcase different charm in this character and story, which is also the unique fun of drama. Mo Yan repeatedly emphasizes "writing about both good and bad people as adults", which is both wisdom and compassion. This concept endows the character with a soul, and the complex and three-dimensional image can not only quickly move people, but also withstand repeated contemplation.
"Calligraphy enthusiasts and design experts"
Drama is ultimately a way of expressing the story, and the key is still the plot. A scene with limited time, desperately stuffing flashy artistic "innovative" elements, educational significance, and philosophy into it can sometimes backfire. It's better to tell the story clearly and perfectly. A good play, although not necessarily complex in plot, can bring a strong impact and make readers spontaneously think and savor. "Crocodile" is undoubtedly such a work. The embodiment of "desire" as "crocodile" allows the crocodile to grow up without fear, and ultimately be devoured by the crocodile. This symbol is straightforward and straightforward, but the entire drama abruptly stops when the crocodile speaks and the atmosphere reaches a climax, leaving the stunned readers to slowly resolve the shock in their hearts. Another clue of "Qingyun Bridge" in the play is also impressive: the bridge carrying professional glory is unbearable, and its final collapse points to the collapse of unbridled faith, which also means that the gorgeous and false foam will eventually burst. This is a work that is not appetizing but full and powerful. Multiple clues are presented clearly, and magical elements naturally blend into reality. When reading, readers will laugh at details like "pen name Mo Yan", sneer at funny or hypocritical words, sigh at the ending of the characters, and then think about society and human nature. It can be seen that a clever plot setting can be captivating with an unadorned expression. As a reader and future audience, I believe this is a truly good story that suits the stage.
Teacher Mo Yan's pursuit of excellence in "The Crocodile" is not only reflected in the play itself. For the sake of this book, he not only created a calligraphy inscription according to tradition, but also waved nearly ten "Crocodile" inscriptions in one breath - we selected his two favorite ones for use as the title of the book cover and the insert at the beginning of the volume. Teacher Mo Yan even conceived the basic framework of the cover: using calligraphy as the book title, highlighting the realistic meaning of the work with the background of newspaper patterns, using crocodile elements in the pattern, and insisting on adding a cute little butterfly to the crocodile's nose to highlight the contrast between beauty and ugliness. Art is interconnected, besides playwright Mo Yan, there are also calligraphy enthusiasts Mo Yan and design experts Mo Yan. In Teacher Mo Yan, we can always see the persistence in artistic quality.
Crocodile by Mo Yan, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House · KEY - Can Culture
