Winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature
In this hypnotic epic novel, Mo Yan, the most critically acclaimed
Chinese writer of this generation, takes us on a journey to a conjured
province of contemporary China known as the Republic of Wine - a corrupt
and hallucinatory world filled with superstitions, gargantuan appetites,
and surrealistic events. When rumors reach the authorities that strange
and excessive gourmandize is being practiced in the city of Liquorland
(so named for the staggering amount of alcohol produced and consumed
there), veteran special investigator Ding Gou'er is dispatched from the
capital to discover the truth. His mission begins at the Mount Lou Coal
Mine, where he encounters the prime suspect - Deputy Head Diamond Jin,
legendary for his capacity to hold his liquor. During the ensuing
drinking duel at a banquet served in Ding's honor, the investigator
loses all sense of reality, and can no longer tell whether the roast
suckling served is of the animal or human variety. When he finally wakes
up from his stupor, he has still found no answers to his rapidly
mounting questions. Worse yet, he soon finds that his trusty gun is
missing.
Interspersed throughout the narrative - and Ding's faltering
investigation - are letters sent to Mo Yan by one Li Yidou, a doctoral
candidate in Liquor Studies and an aspiring writer. Each letter contains
a story that Li would like the renowned author's help in getting
published. However, Li's tales, each more fantastic and malevolent than
the last, soon begin alarmingly to resemble the story of Ding's
continuing travails in Liquorland. Peopled by extraordinary characters -
a dwarf, a scaly demon, a troupe of plump, delectable boys raised in
captivity, a cookery teacher who primes her students with monstrous
recipes - Mo Yan's revolutionary tour de force reaffirms his reputation
as a writer of world standing. Wild, bawdy, politically explosive, and
subversive, The Republic of Wine is both mesmerizing and exhilarating,
proving that no repressive regime can stifle true creative imagination.
