Life
Gao's original home town is . Born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China, Gao has been a citizen since 1997. In 1992 he was awarded the by the French government.
Early years in Jiangxi & Jiangsu
Gao's father was a clerk in the Bank of China, and his mother was a member of the Young Men's Christian Association. His mother was once a playactress of Anti-Japanese Theatre during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Under his mother's influence, Gao enjoyed painting, writing and theatre very much when he was a little boy. During his middle school years, he read lots of literature translated from the West, and he studied sketching, ink and wash painting, oil painting and clay sculpture under the guidance of painter Yun Zongyin .
1950, his family moved to Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu Province. 1952, Gao entered the Nanjing Number 10 Middle School .
Years in Beijing & Anhui
In 1957 Gao graduated, and listening to his mother's advice, chose Beijing Foreign Studies University instead of the Central Academy of Fine Arts , although he was thought to be talented in art.
In 1962 Gao graduated from the Department of French, BFSU, and then entered the Chinese International Bookstore , where he became a professional translator. During the 1970s, because of the Down to the Countryside Movement, he went to and stayed in the countryside and did farm labour in Anhui Provice. He taught as a Chinese teacher in Gangkou Middle School , Ningguo Xian , Anhui Province for a short time. In 1975, he was allowed to go back to Beijing and became the group leader of French translation for the magazine ''Construction in China'' .
In 1977 Gao worked for the Committee of Foreign Relationship, Chinese Association of Writers . In May 1979, he visited Paris with Chinese writers including Ba Jin , and served as a French-Chinese translator in the group. In 1980, Gao became a screenwriter and playwright for the Beijing People's Art Theatre .
Gao is known as a pioneer of absurdist drama in China, where ''Signal Alarm'' and ''Bus Stop'' were produced during his term as resident playwright at the Beijing People's Art Theatre from 1981 to 1987. Influenced by European theatrical models, it gained him a reputation as an avant-garde writer. His other plays, ''The Primitive'' and ''The Other Shore'' , all openly criticised the state government.
In 1986 Gao was misdiagnosed with lung cancer, and he began a 10-month trek along the Yangtze, which resulted in his novel ''Soul Mountain'' . The part-memoir, part-novel, first published in Taiwan in 1989, mixes literary genres and shifting narrative voices. It has been specially cited by the Swedish Nobel committee as "one of those singular literary creations that seem impossible to compare with anything but themselves". The book details his travels from Sichuan province to the coast, and life among Chinese minorities such as the Qiang, Miao, and Yi peoples on the fringes of Han Chinese civilisation.
Years in Europe
By 1987, Gao had shifted to Paris, France. The political ''Fugitives'' , which makes reference to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, resulted in all his works being banned from performance in China.
Selected works
Dramas & Performances
* 《绝对信号》
** 1982, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
** 1992, in Taiwan
* 《车站》
** 1983, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
** 1984, in Yugoslavia
** 1986, in Hongkong
** 1988, in Britain
** 1992, in Austria
** 1999, in Japan
* 《野人》
** 1985, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
** 1988, in Hamburg, Germany
** 1990, in Hongkong
* 《彼岸》
** 1986, published in magazine ''Oct.'' , Beijing
** 1990, in Taiwan
** 1994, translated into by G?ran Malmqvist
** 1995, in The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
* 《躲雨》
** 1981, in Sweden
* 《冥城》
** 1988, in Hongkong
* 《声声慢变奏》
** 1989, in United States
* 《逃亡》
** 1990, published in magazine ''Today''
** 1990, in Sweden
** 1992, in Germany, Poland
** 1994, in France
** 1997, in Japan, Africa
* 《生死界》
** 1991, published in magazine ''Today''
** 1992, in France
** 1994, in Sydney, Italy
** 1996, in Poland
** 1996, in US
* 《山海经传》
** 1992, published by Hongkong Tian & Di Book Press
* 《对话与反诘》
** 1992, published in magazine ''Today''
** 1992, in Vienna
** 1995, 1999, in Paris
* 《周末四重奏》
** 1999, published by Hongkong New Century Press
* 《夜游神》
** 1999, in France
* 《八月雪》
** 2000, published by Taiwan Lianjing Press
** 19 Dec 2002, in Taipei
* 《高行健戏剧集》
* 《高行健戏剧六种》
* 《行路难》
* 《喀巴拉山》
* 《独白》
Novels
* 《寒夜的星辰》
* 《有只鸽子叫红唇儿》 - a collection of novellas
* 《给我老爷买鱼竿》 - a short story collection
* 《灵山》
* 《一个人的圣经》
Others
* 《巴金在巴黎》
* 《现代小说技巧初探》
* 《谈小说观和小说技巧》
* 《没有主义》
* 《对一种现代戏剧的追求》
* 《高行健·2000年文库——当代中国文库精读》
Works of Gao Xingjian in English
* ''Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather'', short stories, trans. Mabel Lee, Flamingo, London, 2004, ISBN 0-00-717038-6
* ''Soul Mountain'', novel, trans. Mabel Lee, Flamingo, London, 2001, ISBN 0-00-711923-2
* ''One Man's Bible'', novel, trans. Mabel Lee, Flamingo, ISBN 0-06-621132-8
* ''The Other Shore'', plays, trans. G. Fong, Chinese University Press, ISBN 962-201-862-9
* ''Silhouette/Shadow: The Cinematic Art of Gao Xingjian'', film/images/poetry, ed. Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Contours, Paris, ISBN 978-981-05-9207-3
Literature
* ''Trees on the Mountain: an Anthology of New Chinese Writing'' by Stephen C Soong and John Minford. - Hong Kong: The Chinese U.P., copilot 1984.
* ''Gao Xingjian, le moderniste'' // La Chine aujourd'hui NO 41, September 1986.
* ''World Literature with Chinese Characteristics: On A Novel by Gao Xingjian'' by Torbjoern Lodén, // Stockholm journal of East Asian Studies 4, 1993.
* ''Chinese Writing and Exile'' by Gregory B. Lee - Center of East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago, 1993.
* ''Gao Xingjian, the Voice of the Individual'' // Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies, 6, 1995.
* ''Without Politics: Gao Xingjian on Literary Creation'' by Mabel Lee // Stockholm journal OF East Asian Studies 6, 1995.
* , Robert Nagle, Houston, Texas, 2002.
* ''Pronouns as Protagonists: Gao Xingjian's Lingshan as Autobiography'' by Mabel Lee// Colloquium of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics at the University of Sydney. Draft Paper, 3-4 Oct. 1996.
* ''Personal Freedom in Twentieth Century China: Reclaiming the Self in Yang Lian's Yi and Gao Xingjian's Lingshan'' by Mabel Lee // History, Literature and Society. - Sydney: Sydney Studies in Society and Culture 15, 1996.
* ''Outer one plus près you réel: dialogues sur l'écriture 1994-1997, entretiens avec Denis Bourgeois'' /trad. par Noeel et Liliane Dutrait. - La route of d'Aigues: l'Aube, 1997.
* ''Gao Xingjian's Lingshan/Soul Mountain: Modernism and the Chinese Writer'' by Mabel Lee, // Heat 4, 1997.
* ''Gao Xingjian, le peintre de l'?me'' by Robert Calvet, // Brèves No 56, more hiver 1999.
* ''Towards A Modern Zen Theatre: Gao Xingian and Chinese Theatre Experimentalism''. Henry Y.H. Zhao, - London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 2000.
Poem by Gao Xingjian
While being forced to work as a peasant - a form of 're-education' under the Cultural Revolution - in the 1970s, Gao Xingjian produced many plays, short stories, poems and critical pieces that he had eventually to burn to avoid the consequences of his dissident literature being discovered. Of the work he produced subsequently, he published no collections of poetry, being known more widely for his drama, fiction and essays. However, one short poem exists that represents a distinctively modern style akin to his other writings.
天葬台
宰了
割了
烂捣碎了
燃一柱香
打一声呼哨
来了
就去了
来去都干干净净
Translation:
Cut
Scalped
Pounded into pieces
Light an incense
Blow the whistle
Come
Gone
Out and out
- 13 April, 1986, Beijing
Painting
Gao is a renowned painter, especially for his ink and wash painting.
Exhibitions
* ''The End of the World'', Germany, 29 Mar - 27 May 2007
* “无我之境·有我之境”, Singapore, 17 Nov 2005 - 7 Feb 2006
* ''Return to Painting'', New York, Perennial 2002
* ''Le go?t de l'encre'', Paris, Hazan 2002
Comments
Official response from mainland China
Although the general position by the Chinese media and current government towards Gao is that of silence, the Yangcheng Evening News , a state-run newspaper, in 2001, criticised one of his works. A Chinese columnist called him an "awful writer", and said that the idea of his winning the Nobel Prize was "ludicrous".
During Gao's early years in China, his works were published and his dramas were performed, and he had a large readership and audience. He was considered an "experimental playwright" or an avant-courier. Since the ban of his works and his migration to Europe, he has become less known - or even unknown - in China.
The Premier Zhu Rongji delivered a congratulatory message to Gao when interviewed by the Hong Kong newspaper ''East Daily'' :
* Q.: ''What's your comment on Gao's winning Nobel Prize ?''
* A.: ''I am very happy that works written in Chinese can win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Chinese characters have a history of several thousand years, and Chinese language has an infinite charm, believe that there will be Chinese works winning Nobel Prizes again in the future. Although it's a pity that the winner this time is a French citizen instead of Chinese, I still would like to send my congratulations both to the winner and the French Department of Culture.''
Comments from Chinese writers
Gao's work has led to fierce discussion among Chinese writers, both positive and negative.
Many Chinese writers comment that Gao's "Chinoiserie," or translatable works, have opened a new approach for Chinese modern literature to the Swedish Academy, and that his winning the Nobel Prize in its 100th anniversary year is a happy occasion for Chinese literature.
Before 2000, a dozen Chinese writers and scholars already predicted Gao's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, including Hu Yaoheng Pan Jun just in 1999. Due to Chinese literature having the longest continuous tradition and having heavily influenced East Asian literature, Chinese language elements are widely used in several languages including Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. In addition, with 20th century Japanese writers having already won the Prize, many Chinese writers had predicted before 2000 that soon there would be a Literature winner with a Chinese background.
Trivia
* Gao Xingjian's Swedish translator G?ran Malmqvist, is a member of the Swedish Academy and was responsible for the translation to Swedish for Nobel Prize consideration. Ten days before the award decision was made public, Gao Xingjian changed his Swedish publisher , but G?ran Malmqvist has denied leaking information about the award.
* Gao is the second Nobel laureate to give an Nobel acceptance speech in Chinese .
* Gao has been the center of an artistic piece of video art. The art exhibit is entitled 'Voom' and was presented at the University of Iowa art museum in March 2008.
Prizes
* 2006, ''Lions Award'', by the New York Public Library at Library Lions Benefit event
* 2000, ''Nobel Prize in Literature''
* 1992, ''''
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