Angelica Duran has been on the English and comparative literature faculties at Purdue University since earning her PhD from Stanford in English literature. She also has served as Purdue's director of religious studies. Her many journal articles and scholarly chapters reflect the interdisciplinary nature of her research, ranging from Anglo-Hispanic comparative literature to disability studies, all anchored in Renaissance British literature. She is the editor of A Concise Companion to Milton and The King James Bible, Across Centuries, Across Borders and is the author of The Age of Milton and the Scientific Revolution.

Acknowledgments
Note
Introduction to Mo Yan in Context: Nobel Laureate and Global Storyteller, by Angelica Duran and Yuhan Huang
Part One: Leaves
A Mutually Rewarding yet Uneasy and Sometimes Fragile Relationship between Author and Translator, by Howard Goldblatt
The Censorship of Mo Yan's ¿¿¿¿¿¿ (The Garlic Ballads), by Thomas Chen
Representations of "China" and "Japan" in Mo Yan's, Hayashi's, and Naruse's Texts, by Noriko J. Horiguchi
Abortion in Faulkner's The Wild Palms and Mo Yan's ¿ (Frog), by Lanlan Du
Rural Chineseness, Mo Yan's Work, and World Literature, by Chengzhou He
Part Two: Trunk
The Realpolitik of Mo Yan's Fiction, by Sabina Knight
Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out in a Cultural and Visual Context, by Yuhan Huang
Mo Yan's The Garlic Ballads and Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out in the Context of Religious and Chinese Literary Conventions, by Chi-ying Alice Wang
Religious Elements in Mo Yan's and Yan Lianke's Works, by Jinghui Wang
Mo Yan's Work and the Politics of Literary Humor, by Alexa Huang and Angelica Duran
Part Three: Roots
Cosmopolitanism and the Internationalization of Chinese Literature, by Ning Wang
Variation Study in Western and Chinese Comparative Literature, by Shunqing Cao and Miaomiao Wang
A Textbook Case of Comparative Cultural Studies, by Donald Mitchell and Angelica Duran
Epilogue
Soul Searching in Contemporary Chinese Literature and Society, by Fenggang Yang
Selected Bibliography of and about Mo Yan's Work in Chinese and English, by Angelica Duran and Yuhan Huang
Index

In 2012 the Swedish Academy announced that Mo Yan had received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work that "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history, and the contemporary." The announcement marked the first time a resident of mainland China had ever received the award. This is the first English-language study of the Chinese writer's work and influence, featuring essays from scholars in a range of disciplines, from both China and the United States. Its introduction, twelve articles, and epilogue aim to deepen and widen critical discussions of both a specific literary author and the globalization of Chinese literature more generally. The book takes the "root-seeking" movement with which Mo Yan's works are associated as a metaphor for its organizational structure. The four articles of "Part I: Leaves" focus on Mo Yan's works as world literature, exploring the long shadow his works have cast globally. Howard Goldblatt, Mo Yan's English translator, explores the difficulties and rewards of interpreting his work, while subsequent articles cover issues such as censorship and the "performativity" associated with being a global author. "Part II: Trunk" explores the nativist core of Mo Yan's works. Through careful comparative treatment of related historical events, the five articles in this section show how specific literary works intermingle with China's national and international politics, its mid-twentieth-century visual culture, and its rich religious and literary conventions, including humor. The three articles in "Part III: Roots" delve into the theoretical and practical extensions of Mo Yan's works, uncovering the vibrant critical and cultural systems that ground Eastern and Western literatures and cultures. Mo Yan in Context concludes with an epilogue by sociologist Fenggang Yang, offering a personal and globally aware reflection on the recognition Mo Yan's works have received at this historical juncture.