Gao Xingjian: Soul Mountain

Der Nobelpreistraeger schreibt ueber die Ethnie der Miao.

"The young men are even less inhibited and come right up to the women to choose the one they like best, as if they are choosing a piece of fruit. At this point the women move their handkerchiefs and fans, and the more they are examined the more feeling they put in their singing. When a conversation starts, the young man takes the woman's hand and they walk off together. (...) I am suddenly surrounded by an expanse of passions and think that the human search for love must originally have been like this. So-called civilization in later ages separated sexual impulses from love and created the concepts of status, wealth, religion, ethics and cultural responsibility. Such is the stupidity of human beings."

"I turn and see four or five girls on the slope all singing to me. One again calls out in a clear voice 'older brother'. (...) She is still a child, her face hasn't lost that childish look - the high forehead, upturned nose, small mouth. If I give the slightest sign I know she will come away with me, snuggle up ... But this tension is unbearable ... I've never encountered this style of love. It is what I dream about but when it actually happens I can't cope."