Mo Yan’s Big Breasts and Wide Hips aroused great controversy when it
was published in 1996 This essay argues that a feminist approach and stylistic
analysis can contribute to a more thorough understanding of the novel. Mo Yan’s
folk language style, unique use of simile metaphor and magic realism embedding
of different registers of Chinese, and his use of overstatement irony and black
humor all contribute to his alternative construction of China’s history. It also argues
that the novel should be read allegorically and that although the gendered narrative
of suffering speaks to the theme of national trauma well it contributes to patriarchal
ideology by confirming the stereotypical view of mothers as loving and self-sacrificial
and of women as the passive victims of power relations.

EB00000002936K

Available

• Gendered narrative of suffering in Mo Yan’s Big Breasts and Wide Hips