Born in 1940, and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, Gao Xingjian introduced avant-garde ideas from European theatre, as well as the Theatre of the Absurd, to Chinese audiences. He studied French at university, and his first job was as a translator on the French-language edition of China Reconstructs. He spent five years in a cadre school during the Cultural Revolution and later worked as a translator in the Chinese Writers Association. He published his first novella in 1978. In 1981, he transferred to the People's Art Troupe as a writer, and has written many plays, of which the most famous is Chezhan [The Bus-stop]. He now lives in France. Many of his works have been translated into English, Swedish and French. He was honoured with the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1992.
|
 |
