This is the first English-language study of the Chinese writer?s work and influence, featuring essays from scholars in a range of disciplines, from both China and the United States. Its introduction, twelve articles, and epilogue aim to deepen and widen critical discussions of both a specific literary author and the globalization of Chinese literature more generally. The book takes the ?root-seeking? movement with which Mo Yan?s works are associated as a metaphor for its organizational structure. The four articles of ?Part I: Leaves? focus on Mo Yan?s works as world literature, exploring the long shadow his works have cast globally.