The August Sleepwalker (1990), by Bei Dao, one of China's premier poets, collects Dao's poems written between 1970 and 1986. Like Xingjian, Dao reaches beyond Chinese tradition to create his art and has come to be known for his highly experimental and subjective style. And like Xingjian, Bao's commitment to artistic freedom has forced him to live outside of his native China, in exile.

One Man's Bible (1999) is Xingjian's fictionalized account of his life during the Cultural Revolution. Told from the third person point of view, the book draws on the narrator's life as an aspiring writer, surrounded by colleagues, neighbors, friends, and even family members he cannot trust out of fear of investigation by the authorities.

Although best known for his writing, Xingjian has become internationally recognized as a painter as well. His paintings, in fact, have been used as the designs...