尽管2012年我一直远在加州的圣芭芭拉小城享受宁静的生活,可也知道这一年对中国文坛来说是热闹而重要的一年。其中,现籍中国的作家莫言获得本年度诺贝尔文学奖可谓是标志性的事件。但我觉得这一年还有另一件重要的文学事件值得铭记,那就是搁笔多年的先锋作家马原的新长篇《牛鬼蛇神》的出版。虽然我也很欣赏莫言在小说中展现的生活的丰富性和残酷性,可从个人趣味来说,我还是更喜欢马原在 Although I had been enjoying a quiet life in Santa Barbara, California in 2012, I also knew that this year was a lively and important year for the Chinese literary world. Among them, the current Chinese writer Mo Yan won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature can be described as a landmark event. But I think there is another important literary event of this year worth remembering, that is, the publishing of the new monarch Ma Yuan, the pioneer writer put aside for many years. Although I also appreciate the richness and cruelty of Mo Yan’s life displayed in the novel, I personally prefer Ma Yuan