In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech (which can be found at http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/2000/index.html), Xingjian wrote, "In order that literature safeguard the reason for its own existence and not become the tool of politics it must return to the voice of the individual." What does Xingjian mean by this statement? Does this mean that literature should never be "political" and that it should only concern itself with the concerns of the individual?

Xingjian has been deeply influenced by the writings of Jerzy Grotowski, the Polish dramatist who devised the concept of "poor theatre." Research Grotowski and his theory of "poor theatre" and explain its influence on The Other Shore.

Research the existentialist movement in France during the 1940s. What were the primary beliefs? Did they share political goals? Do you consider Xingjian an existentialist? Why or why...