The award of the first Nobel prize for literature to a Chinese writer last year brought down a storm of controversy. Few westerners had heard of Gao Xingjian. Was his work really Nobel-worthy? At the time of the award, the only English version of "Soul Mountain", Mr Gao's winning novel (reviewed in these pages on December 9th), was published in Australia. Given, too, that the author had lived in France since 1987, how far could he be thought to know or represent present-day China?
展开▼
