Foreword: In the novel translation class some time ago, Teacher Yan accidentally talked about some language features and related translation methods in the novel "Frog", which suddenly aroused my interest in this novel. I was curious, and happened to be promoting this book on DuoZhuYu.com. So, I placed an order immediately and bought it to read.

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Mo Yan finally won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel "Frog", which was translated by Grant Haowen. The book is based on a rural female doctor (in the text "I ”’s cousin)’s magnificent life, reflects on China’s 60-year history of family planning, conveys a strong humanitarian concern for life, presents the contradictions and pain deep in the souls of intellectuals, and fully demonstrates the rich mysteries of Mo Yan’s literary kingdom. ——Extracted from the preface of the book

The title of "Frog" comes from a piece of news in 1958: "Men and women can prevent pregnancy by swallowing fourteen tadpoles before having sex." Anyone with common sense will find it absurd. But at that time, this method was extremely popular. This became the inspiration for Mo Yan to write this book. The title of the book was initially called "Tadpole Pills". In 2007, the title was changed to "Frog". When I saw that the title of this book was "Frog", I was filled with doubts. But when I saw that the author was Mo Yan, I felt that all this was natural. Anyone who has read Mo Yan's books knows that the title of the book is often a secular name, but after you finish reading, you will find that there is a profound meaning behind the secular name.

The story originated from the Japanese writer Yoshito Sugitani's visit to "my" (tadpole) hometown to talk about literature with local literature lovers. After getting to know "my" aunt, Yoshito Sugitani encouraged local literary lovers to write touching works using her aunt as the material. "I" wrote to Yoshito Sugitani in the form of a letter. The fictional tadpole is used as the protagonist "I" in the article, and the novel begins with my aunt, a rural obstetrician. As the first obstetrician in the area, my aunt delivered thousands of babies and saved countless mothers whose lives were in danger due to difficult labor. But after the family planning policy started, "gugu" became a cadre responsible for family planning. The focus of the "aunt's" work became the executor of family planning. When some mothers were trying to have a baby, they were allowed to hide in various places in the world, but the shrewd and decisive "aunt" still found them and forced them to induce labor. These people include "my" first wife Wang Renmei. She suffered a massive hemorrhage during the induction of labor when she was seven months pregnant, killing one and two others. There was also the little dwarf Wang Dan who was about to give birth when he tried to escape, but died prematurely while being chased. In old age, "aunt" helped "me" find a second wife, Xiaoshi, who was also an obstetrician and family planning cadre. The little lion, who was infertile and loved children very much, finally chose to secretly find a surrogate mother. The "aunt" was still the doctor who personally delivered the baby for the "surrogate" woman. And the "surrogate" woman who was disfigured by the fire was the daughter who caused the premature birth of the dwarf Wang Dan.