Nobel judge explains why Mo Yan won prize  

诺奖评委马悦然现身上海谈“为什么是莫言”

诺贝尔文学奖18位终身评委之一，诺奖评委中唯一精通汉语的汉学家马悦然21日下午携夫人陈文芳现身上海。“为什么是莫言”现场媒体当天纷纷把问题抛给这位88岁高龄的瑞典人。

Shanghai (CNS)—Permanent Nobel Literature Committee judge and renowned sinologist Goran Malmqvist spoke Sunday about the reasons behind Mo Yan's winning of the Nobel Literature Prize.

Malmqvist pointed out that a good translation contributed a lot to the success of Mo Yan's work, since a translated work of high quality can link literature from different countries.

Mo's works contain a sense of fantasy which can be found in Chinese mythology, such as "Journey to the West" and "Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio," he said.

Though influenced by William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mo's works use a Chinese narrative style and he is a "good storyteller," added Malmqvist.

A student of renowned Swedish sinologist Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren, Goran Malmqvist is the first person to translate Chinese classics such as "Heroes of the Marshes" and "Journey to the West" into Swedish.