This book was revised and supplemented many times by Zhang Ling on the basis of his doctoral thesis, which is more rigorous and heavy. Zhang Ling found a unique perspective to study Mo Yan's novels, that is, the relationship between Mo Yan's novels and the spirit of life subject in folk culture. Starting from the problems represented by the body in Mo Yan's novels, Zhang Ling discovered the reality and mental state of the subject of life in Mo Yan's novels, involving the folk cultural characteristics of the subject of life in Mo Yan's novels, and pointed out: "The fundamental point of Mo Yan's' folk' lies in his mentality rather than the so-called' folk cultural form'. The former is fundamental, and the latter is only a' trace' of its solidification. The former is not condescending. Therefore, writers who hold this attitude have no distance from the status of the characters. They are equal in dialogue, or forget the differences of individuals' you, me and him, and often sink into the hearts of the characters and blend with their hearts, perspectives and five senses. He also does not hold a superior enlightenment position. " "He cares about inner psychology, inner life and the existence and feelings of their bodies." "Folk culture form" is only the surface and the end point, just a form, a way and an appropriate carrier. What really enters the theme world of life is "mentality", which is the mentality of ordinary people and the perspective and position behind or under their leadership. Therefore, "My Grandpa", "My Grandma" and "My Aunt" really find the unique angle of Zhang Ling's own study of Mo Yan, that is, from the perspective of the existence of the spiritual subject itself, they also find the essential characteristics of Mo Yan's novels. Zhang Ling also studied the unique symptoms of the subject spirit in Mo Yan's novels from the text images such as "urine" and "chest".
The book also makes a case study of Mo Yan's novels Joy, Birds, Thumb Cuff, Cow, Master is getting more and more humorous, and Chest and Ass are getting fatter. Starting from the text, this paper analyzes Mo Yan's novels from culture, literature and philosophy, and has its own understanding of the texture, structural characteristics, personal use and language characteristics of Mo Yan's novels. For example, the author points out that the viewpoint of Mo Yan's works is undoubtedly an effective method to analyze Mo Yan's works. The author's case analysis of Mo Yan's novel "The Master is Humorous" is both academic and critical realism, which deeply penetrates the author's understanding and criticism of China's social reality, and points out that "the novel fully shows the survival dilemma of laid-off workers at the bottom, but it does not stop there, but further reveals their subjective consciousness and the loss, confusion and anxiety they have suffered and experienced under the cross coordinates of life history and real situation." This fully embodies a critic's subjective consciousness and moral conscience.
The research and criticism of Mo Yan's novels are based on the collection and arrangement of a large number of research materials. The author is quite familiar with Mo Yan's monographs and theoretical articles. He not only quoted a large number of Chinese and foreign scholars' research viewpoints, but also made his own analysis and summary of their research results. For example, the author's analysis of Japanese scholar Naoko Kondo's views on Mo Yan's works is quite appropriate. The author thinks that Kondo's idea is inevitably academic and unrealistic, which makes the novel meaningful. These views are really objective. Because of this research foundation, the author's research on Mo Yan has a foundation, and his views and explanations are tenable, which has its own characteristics. Unfortunately, although the book has a systematic structure, the development of the system is not complete enough, which affects the establishment of the personal research system of the book and needs to be further improved by the author in the future.