From humble beginnings

Storytelling

Characterizing himself as an avid listener, as a youth, Mo said his mother introduced him to literature and later on other villagers told him stories.

"I respected storytellers most when I was young and I talked a lot then," he said.

Folklore and classic tales naturally made their way into his novels, commented Peking University associate professor Li Pengfei.

In his Nobel Lecture in Literature speech on Friday, Mo talked about Pu Songling, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer best known for his classic novel Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio), a collection of grotesque tales about spirits.

"I heard lots of Pu's stories from the elders in my village. Now that I've grown up, I'm still amazed by his writing," he said.

Hometown

Mo's writing is rooted in his hometown of Gaomi in Shandong province and he acknowledged this in his speeches.

He said two decades in Gaomi taught him to deal with hardship and learn how to change his situation through writing.

Xu Jinlong, a researcher at the Institute of Foreign Literature of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that although foreign writers helped hone his skills, Mo owes the most to homegrown writers and people.

"In his Nobel speech, hometown becomes a metaphor for Chinese history and writing," Xu said.

meijia@chinadaily.com.cn