Chinese novelist & playwright (1940- )
If, while observing the boundless universe, the writer is able to scrutinize his own self as well as others, the resulting incisiveness of his observations will far surpass objective descriptions of reality.
GAO XINGJIAN
"Literature as Testimony: The Search for Truth", Witness Literature: Proceedings of the Nobel Centennial Symposium
You're safe only when you can't see anybody.
GAO XINGJIAN
Escape
You contemplate and you wander without any worries, between heaven and earth, in your own private world, and in this way you acquire supreme freedom.
GAO XINGJIAN
Nocturnal Wanderer
Literature remains an indispensable human activity, in which the reader and the writer are engaged of their own volition. Hence, literature has no duty to the masses or society, and ethical or moral pronouncements added by busybody critics are of no concern to the writer.
GAO XINGJIAN
"Cold Literature", The Case for Literature