Pow! (novel)
 First edition (Chinese) | |
| Author | Mo Yan |
|---|---|
| Original title | 四十一炮 |
| Translator | Howard Goldblatt |
| Language | Chinese |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | (Eng. trans.) Seagull Books |
Publication date | 2003 |
| Publication place | China |
Published in English | 15 December 2012 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback |
| Pages | 386 pp (Eng. trans. edition) |
| ISBN | 0857420763 (Eng. trans. edition) |
| Preceded by | Frog |
Pow! (Chinese: 四十一炮; pinyin: sìshíyī pào) is a 2003 novel by the Chinese author and Nobel laureate Mo Yan. The novel's protagonist is Luo Xiaotong, a village boy with a passion for story-telling. It is set in a temple, where Luo recounts the story of his life to an old monk.[1] He describes the difficult circumstances of his childhood in the "Slaughterhouse Village," a fictional town in which the population is obsessed with the consumption of meat and where corruption is rife.[2]
The novel has been interpreted as an allegorical commentary on the state of contemporary Chinese society, though Mo himself maintains that he is merely a storyteller, uninterested in ideology.[3]
References
- ^ "Mo Yan's New Novel: A Peter Pan tale", The Economist, 22 December 2012.
- ^ Hector Tobar, "Mo Yan's 'Pow!' packs a punch, however veiled", Los Angeles Times, 14 December 2012.
- ^ "Mo on Mo", The Economist, 3 January 2013.