Mo Yan bashing: Diseased language !

       I'm looking forward to the discussions about this article: in the Kenyon Review Anna Sun discusses The Diseased Language of Mo Yan, arguing that:

The effect of Mo Yan's work is not illumination through skilled and controlled exploitation, but disorientation and frustration due to his lack of coherent aesthetic consideration. There is no light shining on the chaotic reality of Mo Yan's hallucinatory world.

The discontent lies in Mo Yan's language. Open any page, and one is treated to a jumble of words that juxtaposes rural vernacular, clichéd socialist rhetoric, and literary affectation. It is broken, profane, appalling, and artificial; it is shockingly banal. The language of Mo Yan is repetitive, predictable, coarse, and mostly devoid of aesthetic value. The English translations of Mo Yan's novels, especially by the excellent Howard Goldblatt, are in fact superior to the original in their aesthetic unity and sureness.

       Superior translations !
       Sun continues:

Mo Yan's language is striking indeed, but it is striking because it is diseased. The disease is caused by the conscious renunciation of China's cultural past at the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

       And she notes:

It is worth noting that many superb Chinese writers' work does not read well in translation. (Although there are certainly exceptions: David Hawkes' magnificent translation of Dream of the Red Chamber is both a faithful translation and a masterpiece of English prose.)

       An interesting thesis presented here; I hope lots of folks weigh in.