Representing the intellectuals in Yan Lianke’s recent writing: An exile of the soul

In this chapter, I argue that the increasing presence, and way of representation, of intellectual characters in Yan Lianke's writing is a consequence of the author's troubled relationship with censorship. The varying possibility to publish within mainland China, has had, all over Yan's writing years, a deep influence not only on his choice of topics but also on his writing style, to the point where he defined his struggle with the possibility to publish in mainland China as an “exile of the soul.” After a quick overview on how censorship has shaped Yan's writing over the years, from the declarations of self-censorship to the theorization of a literary writing style, “mythorealism” (shenshi zhuyi), which shows how deeply our author is influenced by politics in his conception of literature, I discuss the increasing presence, and satirical representation, of intellectuals in Yan's writing in the decade 2008–18. It is argued that this representation has taken the form of a metatextual and avant-garde turn in Yan's writing, as a new, creative literary response to the censors.