Mo Yan to come
As Chinese writer Mo Yan embarked on his journey last Wednesday to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm, Sweden, enthusiastic fever for this new Nobel Laureate climbed to yet another height, though it hadn't shown much abatement since the announcement of his winning on October 17.
In China, questions like what he might say at the Swedish Academy or how he might dress at the different events related to the award ceremony were intensely discussed on the Internet. Some netizens even photo-shopped the author wearing a variety of outfits such as a tuxedo, a Chinese tunic, and a Tang suit.
Now that his "storyteller" speech has been unveiled, people are primed for the exciting moment tonight when he will officially receive the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature. He will of course have a 5-minute acceptance speech, which also has stirred up many people's curiosity.
Playing the Mo Yan card
Actually, that "storyteller" speech was one of the few long dissertations Mo has delivered regarding his thoughts on literature and world views since the announcement of his big win. For the most part, Mo has shunned the media spotlight in an effort to avoid too much exposure.
Despite his low-key posture, everything related to his writings - his hometown in Gaomi city, Shandong Province, his families, his old residence - has been laid bare before the public.
"The son (Mo Yan) is not just your son, and your house is not just your house either." This recent saying was spoken by a neighborhood official in charge of Mo's old residence in his hometown. The official was persuading Mo's father to accept the request to renovate the old residence anticipating that it would become a hot tourist destination.
"This time going to Sweden, besides accompanying Mo Yan for the award ceremony, my other job is to introduce the red sorghum culture of Gaomi to the world," said Shao Chunsheng, director of the Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Television and Publication in Gaomi. Shao is himself a writer and a personal friend of Mo.
"I'm really honored to be able to go there and I will also bring some folk handicrafts of Gaomi like paper-cuts and New Year prints to show people there," Shao said to China News Service before taking off to Sweden.
Shao mentioned that Mo Yan was born in the land of red sorghum and was famous for the novel Red Sorghum. Now his hometown is famous because of him. "I want to take this opportunity to introduce our red sorghum culture to more people," said Shao.
Name brand effect
By contrast to the literal meaning of Mo Yan's name - do not speak - the name has instead become the most popular brand in the past several weeks. As one of the several major copyright agent companies for Mo Yan's books, Beijing Genuine and Profound Culture Development Company (GPCD) has seen its influence quickly expand in that short time.
"His winning of the Nobel Prize has greatly increased our sale of his paper books, meanwhile e-books online and calls for screen adaptations have also increased a lot," said Shi Xiang, general manager of the company.
Signing a copyright contract with Mo Yan this May, GPCD has earned the right to release his books both domestically and abroad, as well as for adapting them for the screen and online books. Though not enjoying an exclusive copyright of Mo's work in the country, GPCD is the one earning the most complete rights relating to Mo's works.
"His works like Frog, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, and Red Sorghum have sold very well," said Shi. "Besides, the average sales volume for his books before was around 200,000 copies for each. Now it can reach between 500,000 and 1 million for a new book," Shi told the Global Times.
To keep up with the paper book sales, GPCD is also accelerating its research and development on Mo Yan's online books. "Except for the Apple's IOS system of e-books, which we will operate ourselves, other channels have been allocated to different domestic e-commerce operators like dangdang.com," said Shi.
"The market potential stimulated by Mo Yan's winning of the Nobel Prize is continuing to expand," said Chen Liming, president of GPCD and who has also accompanied Mo to the award ceremony. "Apart from the traditional paper publications, a whole set of development projects relating to Mo's works including e-books, screen work adaptation as well as artworks are under operation," said Chen.
The foreign market is also a big part of the blueprint. According to Chen, now Mo's works have been translated into nearly 100 different languages and by the end of this year, his two works The Republic of Wine and Big Breasts and Big Hips will be published in Russia for the first time.
Don't wear it out
"Since he was declared winning the Nobel Literature Prize, we have received numerous calls from televisions and film companies calling for cooperation on his works," said Tang Juan, vice manager of the publicity department of GPCD.
"Mo Yan hasn't been available to examine the cooperation deals yet, and currently we are just compiling those materials," said Shi. "Writers are different from pop stars: Too much exposure can be counter-productive and incur readers' antipathy, and it's not respectful to the writer either," Shi added.
In fact, seeing Mo engulfed in the overwhelming media spotlight, many readers and his friends expressed their concerns for Mo's writing. "I hope he can return to the state of an ordinary person as soon as possible," said Yoshida Tomio, translator of most of Mo's works in Japan, worried that those changes in Mo's social and personal life may bring negative effects to his writing.
But consistent with his low-key style, Mo until now has been cool. He said at the news conference in Stockholm last Thursday that he will break the "evil spell" that Nobel Laureates suffer after winning the prize.
"There certainly must be a line between a writer's writing and his publicity," said Shi. "However, writing as a career in China is still poor in economic returns."
"For the country's culture and publication market to flourish, we need to let a group of good writers get rich first, enabling them to write without concerns for material life," he opined. "Money and writing are not two contradictory sides."
