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Loading... Frösche (original 2009; edition 2014)by Mo Yan (Autor), Martina Hasse (Übersetzer)
Work InformationFrog by Mo Yan (2009)
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  NewLibrary78 | Jul 22, 2023 |    ) Jenniferchen | Oct 10, 2022 | Set as a series of letters to a 'Sensei', Tadpole tells the tale of his life, mostly in relation to his Aunt Gugu and her role as a midwife and later in the family planning policy. The letters feel more as if the events are being retold before you, as most are quite long and you often forget it is a letter at all. It is a story of loss, blame, pride and duty, as a fictionalised retelling of the history of China from before the Cultural Revolution to the early 2000s. The intimate nature of the village, Gaomi township, makes you intensely invested in the future of it and its occupants, as we know there is one, or Tadpole wouldnt be reounting it. But the innevitability of a future already set creates a sense of impending...something. I felt love for every soul in the book, especially the eccentric Renmei, the loving Wang Gan and the bold love between Chen Bi and Wang Dan. Mo Yan and the translator write beautifully and accessibly (it was very easy-going). It took a lot of time though because there was so much of it. The whole of Tadpole's life and Gugu's. You need some time to sit with it. The Gaomi township couldnt have felt more tangible. However, there is the question of whether everything Tadpole is presenting us with is true, part of the story he was a child for. But also because of the Play at the end. He is retelling his history in order to write a play, the play is wonderful and seems to play out the next part of the story chronologically from where he left off, however, because its a play, its been fictionalised, he even says so himself. Leaving us to believe what we wish for the end. All in all, I fell in love with Mo Yan's village and its inhabitants, it is devistating and sharp and sweet, full of the uniqueness of life and you connect in some way with every single soul mentioned. (  ) bookmarkitbaby | Sep 27, 2022 | No most ez tulajdonképpen egy káderregény: hőse Wang Szív, a "nénike", a járás hiperaktív szülésznője. Akinek alapesetben az lenne a dolga, hogy szakmányban segítse világra a kínaiak újabb generációit - és alapvetően ezt is teszi. Csakhogy jön egy újabb vezéri ötlet. A kínai vezetés fényes elméjéből ugyanis egyszer csak kipattan a gondolat, hogy jó ugyan, ha Kínában sok a kínai, de az már nem egészséges, ha túl sok. Bevezették tehát az egykézés politikáját, aminek keretében brutálisan szankcionálták a gyermekvállalást. Mégpedig egy olyan országban, ahol a család szentsége mindenek feletti. Mindez természetesen óriási ellenállást váltott ki, amit csak a keménykezű káderek hadával lehetett kezelni. "Nénike" pedig pompásan megfelel ezeknek a kritériumoknak, mert kemény, mint a radiátoron hagyott bejgli, úgyhogy szülésznőből anti-szülésznővé változik, hisz ez a Párt akarata. És ha a Párt azt akarja, hogy hasonulj meg önmagaddal, akkor meghasonulsz. Aztán dolgozd fel, ahogy tudod. Az európai regényekkel összevetve morzsál ez a szöveg, akár a bejgli. (Igen, már megint a bejgli. Ez egy ilyen karácsonyi motívum.) Mo Yan számos szálat felkap, de nem érzi szükségét, hogy azokat tökéletesen kikerekítse vagy elvarrja, amitől az egész konstrukció sajátosan kaleidoszkóp-szerű lesz. De felettébb sikerült kaleidoszkóp ez, amiből elképesztően sok dolgot tudhatunk meg a kínai vidékről. Látjuk a hagyományt és a fejlődést birokra kelni, látjuk, ahogy átalakul az egész társadalmi struktúra. Amit a makrogazdaság nyelvén Kína GDP-jének robbanásszerű növekedésével írnak le, azt Mo Yan az irodalom eszköztárával teszi megélhetővé, bemutatja a nyerteseket és a veszteseket: a rombolást, ami a teremtés mögött van. ( ) Kuszma | Jul 2, 2022 | Mo Yan has said population growth is China's biggest problem. The plight of girls is inextricably tied up in it. Relating Wan Xin's story in this way allows him to cover decades of women's stories in the PRC, for Wan Xin (Gugu) was a midwife. Graduating in 1953, when the Republic was full of hope, Gugu set out at the age of sixteen to bring revolutionary ideas in politics and birthing to the county. No more straddling a pregnant woman's abdomen and pushing; now midwives would work in sync with their patients. Possessing a highly desirable class background, Gugu's career looked limitless until a major setback in love. No matter, she persevered. Imagine the role of a midwife through China's Great Famine, when no children were born in the commune's forty villages for two years. The end of famine in 1962 saw the population boom, so that by 1965 it was proposed "One {child} is good, two is just right, three is too many". Gugu became the Party's local Family Planning proponent and enforcer. Vasectomies for men with three children were decreed, with Gugu performing the procedure. The Cultural Revolution would not be easy for Gugu as the men extracted their revenge. Throughout the novel, Xiaopao is also relating his own story, and the everyday life of the township. It is here that Mo's humour emerges, balancing the horror that was to come. In 1978-79 the one child policy was introduced. Families in the township sought potions that would ensure a male child or twins. Nothing Gugu could say would convince them their quest was in vain. In 1983, when Steven Mosher wrote in Broken Earth of the enforcement of the policy, he was vilified as being overly dramatic. As seen by Mo Yan though, the reality was even darker. Gugu, a true believer, along with her helper Little Lion, carried out the forced terminations creating turmoil across the township. The era of state capitalism and rampant corruption coincided with this policy. A new frog breeding enterprise started in the village. The corruption behind it is a major focus of the storyline. It's no accident that there is the imagery of an awful swamp both here and in Ma Jian's Dark Road. There are no happy endings in either book. Nobody emerges unscathed over the decades. Gugu created her own unique way of coping and atoning to herself for her perfectly legal deeds. Xiaopao attained a certain peace through his writing. Written before Mo Yan controversially won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012, but not appearing in English until after, Frog appears to be the latest of his works in English. It doesn't seem to have the energy of his earlier writing. Perhaps the theme is just too awful. Nevertheless, for those who've been reading him all along, it's a worthwhile addition. SassyLassy | Mar 10, 2022 |
 Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan, one of the most popular and prolific authors in China, is possibly still best known overseas for his 1987 novel Red Sorghum, and even then mostly for the lavish film of the book which launched the careers of director Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li. Nobel winners may subsequently see their even their marginalia reach publication in multiple languages, and their shopping lists become the subject of academic theses. But while Frog first appeared in Chinese three years before Mr. Mo’s 2012 win, its recent arrival in English is no mere exploitation of prize-enhanced international marketability. The novel is a full-length major work with big ideas, and it deals with a highly sensitive topic. Mo Yan (“no words” or “don’t speak”) is the pen name of Guan Moye, and Frog is set in his favourite location, a fictionalised version of his birthplace in rural Shandong Province. The narrator’s Aunt Gugu, politically perfect daughter of a communist doctor who died in World War Two, trains as her area's first modern midwife, earns respect and admiration for her no-nonsense delivery skills, and is glamorously affianced to a fighter pilot. He defects to Taiwan, taking his plane and all her political capital with him and as a result she suffers persecution and physical abuse during the Cultural Revolution for her inadvertent connection with the Communist Party’s enemies. Yet her faith in the Party never wavers. She becomes a tough enforcer of its authority, and in particular of its one child policy. China’s successful modern literature is rarely short on blood, bile, and sudden death, featuring the whiff of the public toilet, the blare of the truck horn, and the brilliance of blood in the gutter after unexpected violence. Mo Yan also gives the reader no quarter. Young mothers die undergoing last-minute abortions at Gugu’s hands, serial fathers are rounded up for compulsory vasectomies, and the neighbours of recalcitrant repeat parents are threatened with the destruction of their property unless they join in persuading heavily pregnant women out of hiding. --- But as critics both inside and outside China point out, Mr. Mo is now much closer to the government. He holds the post of Vice President of the officially approved Chinese Writers Association and has spoken out publicly in favour of censorship. In 2012 he contributed his own calligraphy to a commemorative edition of Mao’s 1942 Yan’an Talks on Literature and Art, which promoted the Leninist line that authors should write in the language of the working class and solely to promote the aims of the revolution. There are few documents more reviled by Chinese artists, especially at a time when current President Xi Jinping is reviving the same approach. --- The book is no easy read. But regardless of his politics, admirers of Mr. Mo’s earlier literary offspring are likely to be equally joyful he brought this one to term.
" The author of Red Sorghum and China's most revered and controversial novelist returns with his first major publication since winning the Nobel Prize. In 2012, the Nobel committee confirmed Mo Yan's position as one of the greatest and most important writers of our time. In his much-anticipated new novel, Mo Yan chronicles the sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nation's controversial one- child policy. Frog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu-the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist-is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu's own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant. In sharply personal prose, Mo Yan depicts a world of desperate families, illegal surrogates, forced abortions, and the guilt of those who must enforce the policy. At once illuminating and devastating, it shines a light into the heart of communist China. "-- No library descriptions found. 
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)895.13Literature Literature of other languages Asian (east and south east) languages Chinese Chinese fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.66)
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Wikipedia in English (1)
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Cinque stelle per la parte quinta (l’opera in nove atti)... (l’equivalente di cinque rane toro).
Mi aspettavo qualcosa di piu’ da un premio nobel... Ma oggidi’ il nobel spetta anche ai fischiettatori di canzoncine… apprezzabili (le canzoncine) ma la letteratura e’ qualcosa di piu’ completo.
Alcuni brani:
ZIA “Wa” come bambino o “wa” come rana?
GIRINO Per il momento come “rana”, ma possiamo sostituirlo con il carattere che significa “bambino”. Oppure con quello del nome di Nuwa. Nuwa ha generato tutti gli uomini, d’altro canto le rane sono simbolo delle fertilita’, la rana e’ il totem della zona a nordest di Gaomi e nelle nostre sculture con la creta e nei dipinti di Capodanno si trovano molte rappresentazioni del culto della rana.
(349)
Perche’ rana e neonato hanno lo stesso suono, “wa”? Perche’ il vagito di un bambino appena uscito dalla pancia della madre assomiglia moltissimo al gracidare di una rana? Perche’ molte figurine dei bambini di creta tengono una rana in braccio? Perche’ la progenitrice dell’umanita’ si chiama Nuwa? Hanno lo stesso suono, cio’ significa che la nostra antenata era una rana, che gli uomini discendono dalle rane e che la teoria che veniamo dalle scimmie e’ totalmente sbagliata…
(257)
Sta nel destino decidere quanti figli uno fa, - continuo’ mia madre. - C’e’ bisogno della vostra pianificazione? Mi sembra la storia del cieco che accende la candela: un inutile spreco di cera.
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