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© Klett-Cotta Verlag
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Yu Hua
China
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Guest of the ilb 2002
Yu Hua was born in Hangzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang in 1960. His parents, both doctors, moved with him shortly after his birth to the small town of Haiyan. Here, where at first there "was not even a bicycle", the author lived for almost thirty years. The author says "This place has been my inspiration to this day". After completing his secondary school studies, Yu Hua did a dentists training course in the local hospital, spent a year at Medical School and then worked as a dentist for five years. Parallel to this he began to write. Later, Yu Hua broke off his medical studies and took up a position in the district Cultural Department where he was primarily concerned with the collection of folkloric songs and stories.
After his literary debut in 1987 with the short story 'Wie Schall und Rauch', Yu Hua moved to Peking. In the late eighties and early nineties further texts followed in quick succession: in 1991 his first novel 'Schreie im Regen' was published and thereafter 'Leben!' in 1992 and 'Der Mann, der sein Blut verkaufte' in 1995.
The novel 'Leben!', which was filmed by the famous director Zhang Yimou in 1994, brought him immediate fame. In this novel the story is told in simple, powerful sentences of the farmer Fugui and his family. The characters are portrayed with great precision from outside as from the perspective of a camera. In his novels Yu Hua does not use narrative features such as flash-backs, soliloquies and psychological insights. It is through the apparent simplicity of his style that the texts acquire their own particular, moving and compelling character. In 'Der Mann, der sein Blut verkaufte', the author also uses a consciously simple language with true to life dialogue. The characters are portrayed with all their strengths and weaknesses in a laconically realistic way; there is neither pathos nor any taking-back of what is said. In this way both books cover several decades of the most turbulent period history of China.
In contrast to the film version of 'Leben!', which despite international awards (among others 'Jury Grand Prix' at Cannes in 1994) was banned in the Peoples’ Republic and of which the director and main actors were refused the right to work for two years, Yu Hua’s books have so far had no problems with the censors, as their critical potential derives from a very indirect and figurative mode of representation.
Yu Hua’s experimental short novels and – above all – 'Leben!' and 'Der Mann, der sein Blut verkaufte' have put him, together with Wang Shuo, Su Tong and Mo Yan, among those authors of the younger generation whose books have the highest circulation.
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