ABSTRACT

This chapter asks what concepts of dissent can offer the study of world literature. The concepts of dissensus and ‘whatever singularity’ potentially frame Mo Yan’s work in more nuanced relation to Western notions of dissent. The suspicion that Chinese authorities might be speaking through Mo Yan – that his novels and stories might reflect state interests and commitments – has influenced the reception of his work in English. The earthiness of Mo Yan’s figures and formal echoes, along with the melancholic pathos or narcissistic hedonism of many characters, challenges official government narratives of progress, modernity, and growth. Alexa Huang and Angelica Duran point directly to Guan Moye’s choice of pen name – ‘Mo Yan’ translates literally to ‘Don’t Talk’ or ‘Don’t Speak’ – as a ‘critical tool’ that underscores the effects of his comedic displacements ‘to speak the unspeakable in writings which reimagine political history’.