Gao Xingjian
Influenced by Beckett, Ionesco (both of whom he has translated into Chinese), Artaud, and Brecht, he has a global vision, experimental technique, absurdist leanings, and a skepical point of view that place him squarely in the ranks of literary modernism. In his plays, Gao often mixes avant-garde elements with techniques of traditional Chinese theater, such as shadow plays, masked drama, dance, and music. Among his theatrical works are the Beckettian Bus Stop (1983) and the openly political Fugitives (tr. 1993), a love story set against the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Five of his translated plays are collected in The Other Shore (1999). His best-known novel is Soul Mountain (1990, tr. 2000), an epic and lyrical odyssey inspired by his own 10-month walking trip along the Chang River (Yangtze) that is a unique mixture of literary styles, techniques, and genres. His other fiction includes the semiautobiographical One Man's Bible. Gao is also a critic, essayist, short-story writer, director, and a painter known for his works in inkwash. In 2000 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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