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How to pronounce Gao Xingjian: gow shing-jen
Novelist and playwright Gao Xingjian is the first Chinese recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born January 4th, 1940. He has lived in France since 1987. In 1980 Gao became a screenwriter for the Beijing People's Art Theatre. His novel Soul Mountain was inspired by his 10-month trek along the Yangtze River.
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Gao Xingjian was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature "for an œuvre
of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has
opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama." The following
is an excerpt from his acceptance speech.
Language is not merely concepts and the carrier of concepts, it
simultaneously activates the feelings and the senses and this is why signs and
signals cannot replace the language of living people. The will, motives, tone
and emotions behind what someone says cannot be fully expressed by semantics and
rhetoric alone. The connotations of the language of literature must be voiced,
spoken by living people, to be fully expressed. So as well as serving as a
carrier of thought literature must also appeal to the auditory senses. The human
need for language is not simply for the transmission of meaning, it is at the
same time listening to and affirming a person's existence.
Borrowing from Descartes, it could be said of the writer: I say and therefore I
am. However, the I of the writer can be the writer himself, can be equated to
the narrator, or become the characters of a work. As the narrator-subject can
also be he and you, it is tripartite. The...
John Dalton is the author of the novel, Heaven Lake, which won the Barnes and Noble 2004 Discover Award in fiction. It was also awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize for best first fiction of 2004 from the American Academy of Arts ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Soul Mountain
Try:
Heaven Lake
by John Dalton
Annie Dillard has written several books, including the memoir of her parents, An American Childhood; the Northwest pioneer epic The Living; and the nonfiction narrative Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. A gregarious recluse, she is a ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Soul Mountain
Try:
The Maytrees
by Annie Dillard
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