Each year, the International Forum on the Novel in Lyon, France, invites authors to write about a “keyword” of their choice. The following texts are drawn from this year’s forum, presented by the ...
Ma Jian
A novelist, poet, and visual artist, Ma Jian worked as a journalist reporting on Chinese trade unions before being exiled to Hong Kong by the Communist Party for his political satires. The hero of Beijing Coma (2008) wakes up from a 10-year coma following Tiananmen Square, only to discover that China had become a major capitalist power. Ma Jian’s latest novel, The Dark Road (2013; recently translated into French by Pierre Ménard), is a searing exploration of the ravages of the one-child policy. 