Chinese author Mo Yan visited campus with Beijing professor Liu Hongtao to participate in a question and answer session with students and faculty Tuesday.

Mo Yan has authored many modernist short stories, poetry and novels including “Red Sorghum,” “The Garlic Ballads,” and “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.” He is the current winner of the 2009 Newman Prize for Literature.

Liu Hongtao is the professor of comparative literature and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Beijing Normal University.

Both came to OU to discuss English and Chinese translations of their works, aspects of their literatures and their views on East/West cultural exchanges.

Q: Do you believe in the phrase, “lost in translation”?

Mo Yan: I believe that the process of translation is the process of loss. Certainly fiction is better than poetry, in poetry much is lost.

The most important thing is for the translator to try to interpret the language of the fiction, not just the words.

For example, it is important to know something about the setting, if a short story is set in a small Chinese town with certain set backgrounds and traditions, it is the obligation of the translator to try to convey these traditions in the language of the fiction, not simply translate the words.

Q: Are you writing solely for a Chinese audience?

MY: No. When I write I write for me.

For example, in 1991, my daughter was born and later could not understand certain works because they were past her generation.

In my time, we barely had clothes or food. She has plenty of clothes and food, but says that her life is harder because she has many examinations. My writing is the same. I write for me, for the here and now.

Q: Your latest novel, “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out,” used more than 500,000 characters using a traditional calligraphy brush. Why did you choose to write it this way?

MY: Really, it took me 43 years to write the book in 43 days. The book has always been in my mind over time.

I like to write and write continuously locked up inside a room. I used calligraphy as not to disturb my inspiration.

Many people criticize how I can write so much in a few days, but I can write very good words in a few days and a lot of classical Chinese works were written in a very short time.