Well, there goes my Lagavulin. I lost my bet, which means it’s down to rotgut until I fatten my piggybank again.
Guan Moye, who writes under the pseudonym of Mo Yan, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I can’t comment on his writing, since I’ve never read anything penned by him (I most certainly will within the next week or two), but I’m sure his prose is to kill for. Congratulations.
Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition. In addition to his novels, Mo Yan has published many short stories and essays on various topics, and despite his social criticism is seen in his homeland as one of the foremost contemporary authors.
Mediabistro has also posted a list of free samples of the master works at Amazon, to use as an appetizer.
After the mixed reviews about J.K. Rowling’s foray into adult fiction, the writer is considering going back to her roots. Dianna Dilworth wrote in an article forGalleyCat that at a webcast hosted by Scholastic, on October 11, Rowling said, “The next thing I publish is likely to be a book for children.”
In my opinion, that’s a shrewd move. Her readers must have felt let down, since The Casual Vacancy targeted a different segment of the reading public.
I predict that whenever Ms. Rowling unveils a likely date for her new release publishers and vendors will uncork the bubbly before the prospect of a zillion advance copies her eager fans will buy.
A few hours ago, I flew back from Turkey. My fellow passengers were quieter than usual, perhaps dreading that the Syrian Air Forces would take a pot at our aircraft just for the hell of it. It was an unexpected gift I used to catch a little nap and mull over Ms. Rowling’s fortunes.
I would love to have her money (with which to buy a bottle of Lagavulin now and then, without having to play oracle for Nobel Prize winners), but I would hate the drawbacks of her fame. It occurred to me that Harry Potter set such a lofty standards in the mind of her readers, that regardless of what she writes she’s likely to be found wanting. In my opinion, that’s a tragedy for any writer. Of course, there’s always the recourse of writing under a pseudonym, but I bet she’ll never do that.
Well, there goes my Lagavulin. I lost my bet, which means it’s down to rotgut until I fatten my piggybank again.
Guan Moye, who writes under the pseudonym of Mo Yan, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I can’t comment on his writing, since I’ve never read anything penned by him (I most certainly will within the next week or two), but I’m sure his prose is to kill for. Congratulations.
In my opinion, that’s a shrewd move. Her readers must have felt let down, since The Casual Vacancy targeted a different segment of the reading public.