A storyteller, a storyteller, a myth-maker, a satirist, a master of allusions and a real hallucinogenic realist... All this is Mo Yan, one of the greatest writers of our time, a famous Chinese novelist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. “Forty-one Firecrackers” is being published in Russian for the first time and tells the story of a strange Chinese city where everyone is crazy about meat. Nineteen-year-old Lia Xiaotong tells the old monk, and at the same time us, stories from his life and the lives of other townspeople, and the further, the deeper he takes us into the wilds and secrets of this phantasmagorical town, which in fact is only an allegorical reflection of modern China. In the city , where Luo Xiaotong was born and raised, everyone is crazy about meat. Telling the old monk, and at the same time us, stories from his life and the lives of other townspeople, Luo Xiaotong takes us deeper into the wilds and secrets of the strange town. An ostrich, a camel, a donkey, a dog - how treats from the meat of a variety of animals pour out of a cornucopia, and the stories become more and more bizarre, frightening and - funny? Storyteller, storyteller, myth-maker, satirist, master of allusions and a real hallucinogenic realist... Intricately interweaving several narratives, Mo Yan explores the very essence and way of life of modern China.