Mao Jian receives "Essay Writer of the Year" Prize.
On April 25, the 13th Mass Media Award Ceremony for Chinese Literature was held in Shunde, Guangdong Province. Mao Jian, a professor at East China Normal University who also works as a columnist, received the title, "Essay Writer of the Year", for her film review collectionA Tiger Is in the Bathroom.
Mao Jian currently teaches at ECNU’s Department of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. Her research spans everything from 20th-century Chinese literature and film, to world film, to British and American literature. Her works includeA Perfect Mixture of Crime and Beauty: Film Notes of Mao Jian, andSmile Slowly: An Anthology of Mao Jian, among others.A Tiger Is in the Bathroomis a collection of her film reviews. The name of the book comes from a plot in the filmThe Hangover: after several drunkards find a baby in the room, one of them says, We can't leave the child alone, since there is a tiger in the bathroom.
Award Ceremony Speech
Mao Jian's essays are short and pithy, and reveal a profound passion. Her language is sharp-witted and incisive, resolute and decisive, often creating symmetry with the revelries within reality. Her intellectual prowess is buried in her humor and a natural sharp-wittedness flows from beneath her pen. Her essays avoid being ostentatious, showing instead an absolute sincerity.A Tiger Is in the Bathroom,published in 2014, is a work in which Mao Jian talks freely about earthly affairs as reflected in films. She approaches the films with novel perspectives and quick-wittedness, purposely not shying away from vulgarities and refusing to condemn popular tastes. Her flashes of inspiration, just like her neat language brimming with wisdom, often penetrate into the innermost of things. She is straightforward but merciful, stern but playful. She gains her fame as a columnist, and her columns have greatly enriched the composition of contemporary essays.
