Mo Yan’s English translator, Howard Goldblatt, was thrilled when he heard the news that the author he had so long translated was to be the recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature. Not only
had Goldblatt translated seven novels and a collection of short fiction by the author, but as a long-term friend and fierce critical advocate of his work, this recognition was both hard-fought and much appreciated. The award also meant that Goldblatt would have the opportunity to travel to the Nobel ceremony in Sweden, where he would share the moment with Mo Yan’s other translators from around the world, an experience that Goldblatt paints in positive if also humorously ambivalent tones.