In Change (Bian) China's foremost novelist Mo Yan (b. 1955) personalizes the political and societal changes in his country over the past few decades in a novella disguised as autobiography (or vice versa). Unlike most historical narratives from China, which are pegged to political events, Change is a representative of "people's history", a bottom-up rather than top-down view of a country in flux. By moving back and forth in time and focusing on small events and everyday people, the author/narrator breathes life into history by describing the effects of larger than life events on the average citizen.
"In Change, China's foremost novelist Mo Yan personalizes the social and political changes in his country over the past few decades in a novella disguised as autobiography (or vice versa). Unlike most historical narratives from China, which are pegged to political events, Change is a representative of 'people's history', a bottom-up rather than top-down view of a country in flux. By moving back and forth in time and focusing on small events and everyday people, the author breathes life into history by describing the effects of larger-than-life events on the average citizen."--