ABSTRACT
Gao Xingjian (1940–) is an émigré writer of fiction and drama, translator, painter, film and stage director, and critic. In 2000, he was the first author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on the basis of a body of works written in Chinese. According to the Swedish Academy, Gao was awarded the prize for “an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama.” 1 Born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Gao extensively read translated literature from the West during his youth, and studied sketch, ink and wash painting, oil painting, and clay sculpture. Having graduated with a degree in French Literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University in 1962, he began writing fiction and essays while also working as a translator for the French edition of China Reconstructs. Following the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, Gao burned a suitcase full of his manuscripts for fear he would be denounced for his writings. Nonetheless, he was still sent to be reeducated in Anhui during the Down to the Countryside Movement. At this time, he continued to write in secret and buried his works underground to protect himself. When he won the Nobel Prize, Gao recalled that, “it was only during this period [the Cultural Revolution], when literature became utterly impossible, that I came to comprehend why it was so essential.” 2
