Chinese writer Cao Wenxuan received the Hans Christian Andersen Prize, the world's most significant award for children's books and illustrations. The presentation took place in Bologna, Italy, during the 53rd International Children's Book Fair. His works have been translated into English, French, German, Japanese and Korean and have become the property of the whole world. The children's writer believes he won the award for writing "very typical, purely Chinese stories."
The jury's decision was unanimous. Cao Wenxuan became the first Chinese winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. He received the award for works that tell about the difficult life of children who find themselves in difficult situations, about how true friendship helps to overcome adversity. And the author says that he does not invent themes for his works, but draws from life. The result is "very typical, purely Chinese stories."
"The real life of Chinese society gives me many vivid and unique stories that may be interesting to children from other countries. All my stories are set in China, on the one hand, they are all Chinese stories, but on the other, they are also universal stories."
The writer was born and raised in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. Graduated from Peking University. Now, already as a professor, he teaches courses on Chinese and children's literature there. His first story was published in 1983. Since then, Cao Wenxuan has written dozens of stories, stories, and text for picture books. In his homeland, he received many awards. His books have been translated into English, French, German, Japanese and Korean.
Cao Wenxuan, Children's Writer, Peking University Professor:
"What I am telling you can be called genuine Chinese stories, but they are understandable and interesting to everyone. Perhaps that is why I won this competition. After all, I do not write for a specific audience, the main thing in the narrative is language, style and creativity itself."
Cao Wenxuan follows the tradition of realism. Among his works, literary critics especially note the stories "The Hut", "Bronze and Sunflower", "Brand", as well as several collections. After the worldwide recognition, according to Chinese book publishers, even more books for children will appear on store shelves.
Li Yan, Vice President of Publishing Corporation:
"I think that the Andersen Prize, won by the writer Cao Wenxuan, will be a great stimulus for the development of China's publishing sector. It will give a boost to the development of children's literature."
The 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Awards nominated for 28 authors and 29 illustrators from 34 countries. The criteria for choosing a particular book are its literary value, the ability to look at things through the eyes of children, arouse children's curiosity and develop imagination. The prestigious award is presented every two years. You can get it only once in a lifetime.
January 9, 1954 (1954-01-09) (age 62)
Yancheng, Jiangsu, PRC
novelist
chinese
H.C. Andersen Prize
Cao Wenxuan (Chinese exercise 曹文轩, pinyin: Cáo Wénxuān; born January 9, 1954, Yancheng, Jiangsu) - Chinese children's writer, professor at Peking University. Winner of the H.C. Andersen Prize (2016).
- 1 Biography
- 2 Creativity
- 2.1 "Hut"
- 2.2 "Bronze and Sunflower"
- 3 Awards
- 4 Notes
Biography
Born January 9, 1954, into a poor peasant family in a village on the outskirts of Yancheng in Jiangsu province. In the childhood of the future writer, the Great Chinese Famine and the Cultural Revolution fell on, the memories of which later influenced his worldview and creativity.
At the age of seventeen, he published his first works for children. Due to the fact that his literary success was appreciated at the local level, at the age of twenty he received a recommendation to enter Peking University, where after graduation he remained to work at the Faculty of Chinese Language and Literature.
In 2016, he was the first Chinese writer to receive the H.C. Andersen International Literary Children's Writer Award.
Creation
He wrote over 100 literary works, three of which were used as the basis for film scripts. Cao Wenxuan's works have been translated into various languages, including English, Korean, German, French, Swedish, and Japanese.
Cao Wenxuan develops the traditions of realism in his work. The action of his works takes place against the background of mass famine, repressions during the Cultural Revolution, the invasion of locusts and other difficult life situations. Children - the heroes of his works - go through tragic trials, endure suffering. According to the author, his own childhood memories are reflected in his work.
"Hut"
Released for the first time in 1997, the novel "The Hut" has been reprinted more than three hundred times, its total circulation exceeded 10 million copies.
The book tells the story of a six-year-old boy, Sansan, an elementary school student who witnesses or participates in various unusual and heart-moving events.
In 2000, director Xu Geng made a film of the same name based on the book.
"Bronze and Sunflower"
The novel "Bronze and Sunflower" was first published in 2004 and since then has been reprinted more than two hundred times.
In the book, the action takes place in a village in the era of the Cultural Revolution, when a sculptor father who was exiled here to hard labor dies of a girl who came from the city named Sunflower, and an extremely poor peasant family of the boy Bronze decides to shelter an orphan.
Awards
- H.C. Andersen Prize (2016).
Notes
- http://data.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb14516729w
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 韩秉宸. 曹文轩 ： 儿童 文学 需要 一些 悲情 (Chinese). 环球 人物. 人民日报 (April 16, 2016). Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- 1 2 3 Li Yan, Deng Jie. Laureate of the Andersen Cao Wenxuan will write a book about the children of migrant workers. People's Daily (13 April 2016). Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- 1 2 You Chengcheng Cao Wenxuan: Author - China // Bookbird: A Journal of International Children 's Literature: journal. - Annick Press Ltd, 2016. - March (fasc. 54 (no. 2). - P. 19 . - ISSN 0006-7377. - DOI: 10.1353.
- 1 2 3 Amy Qin, trans. Ekaterina Oleinikova. Cao Wenxuan. Children's literature without sugar. Hardcover (May 4, 2016). Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- 1 2 Chang Ying. Cao Wenxuan became the first Chinese writer to receive a world children's book award. China Central Television (6 April 2016). Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- 中国 作家 曹文轩 首 获 “安徒生 奖” 用 诗意 笔调 描述 生命 瞬间 (Chinese). 北京大学 新闻 中心 主办 (April 6, 2016). Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- Caofangzi at the Internet Movie Database
- Elizaveta Prudovskaya. Cao Wenxuan. Children's reading room of the Library of Foreign Literature (2016). Retrieved May 20, 2016.
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26.05.2016
We learn about Chinese writers only when one of them becomes a laureate of prestigious international awards. So it happened with the Nobel laureate Mo Yan, and now - the children's writer from China, Cao Wenxuan, unknown to the Russian reader, who received the H.H. Andersen Prize on April 4. In China, he is well known, in the list of the most successful (in financial terms) children's writers in China in 2013, he was ranked 8th, and in the general list of writers he secured 27th place.His path to success was not easy.
The writer was born in January 1954 in the town of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, on the coast of the Yellow Sea. His family was very poor, and the years of his childhood and adolescence fell on the Cultural Revolution. However, the literary abilities that were revealed at a young age allowed him to receive the necessary recommendations and in 1974 to enter the Peking University at the library faculty. The following year, Cao Wenxuan transferred to the Chinese Language and Literature major. In 1977, after graduating from the alma mater, he began teaching. He is now a professor at Peking University and also president of the Peking Writers' Association.
In 1979, Cao published two short stories, for which he received his first prize in 1982 for his contribution to the development of children's and youth literature in the PRC.
In April 1988, Cao won the First National Prize for his contribution to the development of children's literature in the PRC with his story "Goodbye, Starlet." A large number of literary awards (about 30), which Cao Wenxuan received in different years in his homeland, speak of his relevance as a writer.
In 2004, Cao Wenxuan was first nominated for the G.H. Andersen Award from China, but did not become a laureate.
Some of his stories have been translated into foreign languages \u200b\u200band are read by children in the UK, France, Japan and South Korea.
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The most famous works of Cao Wenxuan are the novels "Shalash" (Or "Grass House"; first published in 1988 and was reprinted more than three hundred times, its total circulation exceeded 10 million copies), "Bronze and Sunflower", "Paradise Goats Eating Grass ”, A collection of stories“ Huts Buried Under the Snow ”. Worth noting is the monograph "The Phenomenon of Chinese Literature in the 1980s", for this research work in the field of Chinese literature of the 20th century, Cao Wenxuan received an award from Peking University in 1998.
What makes Cao Wenxuan different as a writer?
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He was greatly influenced by the work of Lu Xin (1881–1936), the founder of modern Chinese literature, who was called "Chinese Gorky" because of the innovative humanism of his time.
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One of Cao Wenxuan's distinctive features is the meticulous "background drawing" against which events unfold. Moreover, these can be both descriptions of beautiful rural landscapes, and actions - brutal massacres of the hungweipings during the "cultural revolution".
Cao Wenxuan said in one of his interviews that modern writers lack descriptiveness.
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Nature is beautiful, and in no case should the imagination of the little reader be deprived of the beauty of the surrounding world.
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What impoverishes the gaze (in this case, perception) impoverishes the soul.
Moreover, Cao Wenxuan believes that modern children's works are too emphasized on the content, on some kind of super-idea - which at the same time does not consist in something beautiful and good, but on the contrary, in ugly and evil.
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Such tendencies came to Chinese literature from Western culture, while the Chinese value system is somewhat different. The tradition of Chinese literature is characterized by such features as refinement, "mood". This "imitation of the West" greatly upsets Cao Wenxuan, so he deliberately rejects "new trends" in his books. Of course, it is difficult for him to compete with other writers, but he still not only remains afloat, but the number of his readers is increasing every year.
Moreover, his work is far from blissful.
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The main characters of his works are children with a difficult fate.
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They often live in poverty, some of them have physical disabilities, struggle with loneliness, misunderstanding, indifference and rejection of their peers. At the same time, in his works there is love, fidelity, duty, that is, those eternal values, without which human life is so colorless.
Cao Wenxuan's works are characterized by a melancholic style and poetic mood. But, to simplify, we can say that he preaches humanism, urges the reader to compassion, heals from indifference.
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Perhaps this delicate balance between beautiful landscapes and heroes who are forced to resist cruelty is the secret of Cao Wenxuan's incredible appeal. Evaluated now by the International Council for Children's and Youth Literature UNESCO.
