Wolf Totum
By Rong Jiang
Wolf Totem depicts the dying culture of the Mongols-the ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the world-and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf Published under a pen name, Wolf Totem was a phenomenon in China, breaking all sales records there and earning the distinction of being the second most read book after Mao's little red book. There has been much international excitement too-to date, rights have been sold in thirteen countries. Wolf Totem is set in 1960s China-the time of the Great Leap Forward, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Searching for spirituality, Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen travels to the pristine grasslands of Inner Mongolia to live among the nomadic Mongols-a proud, brave, and ancient race of people who coexist in perfect harmony with their unspeakably beautiful but cruel natural surroundings. Their philosophy of maintaining a balance with nature is the ground stone of their religion, a kind of cult of the wolf. The fierce wolves that haunt the steppes of the unforgiving grassland searching for food are locked with the nomads in a profoundly spiritual battle for survival-a life-and-death dance that has gone on between them for thousands of years. The Mongols believe that the wolf is a great and worthy foe that they are divinely instructed to contend with, but also to worship and to learn from. Chen's own encounters with the otherworldly wolves awake a latent primitive instinct in him, and his fascination with them blossoms into obsession, then reverence. After many years, the peace is shattered with the arrival of Chen's kinfolk, Han Chinese, sent from the cities to bring modernity to the grasslands. They immediately launch a campaign to exterminate the wolves, sending the balance that has been maintained with religious dedication for thousands of years into a spiral leading to extinction-first the wolves, then the Mongol culture, finally the land. As a result of the eradication of the wolves, rats become a plague and wild sheep graze until the meadows turn to dust. Mongolian dust storms glide over Beijing, sometimes blocking out the moon. Part period epic, part fable for modern days, Wolf Totem is a stinging social commentary on the dangers of China's overaccelerated economic growth as well as a fascinating immersion into the heart of Chinese culture.
Customer Comment from Amazon:
The first-person novel is built on the author's own experience during the Cultural Revolution in China. It's an exceptional read for the story line alone - a young Han Chinese man capturing and raising a Mongolian wolf and through it coming to understand and love the people of inner Mongolia. His view may be romanticized, but it is so well-written that even in translation its unique Chinese lyricism is impressive. Moments of drama and humor intertwine with symbolism of the wolf to tell not just the protagonist's story, but that of the difficult but appealing life of the people he comes to understand and love. The underlying message about the changes in the region and their impact on the environment and a way of life are strongly portrayed.
Awards and Critical Acclaim:
Despite Jiang's stated refusal to attend any awards ceremonies or participate in any publicity activities, Wolf Totem has received more than 10 literary prizes, as well as other recognitions, including:[4]
Named as one of the "Ten Best Chinese-language Books of 2004" by international newsweekly Yazhou Zhoukan[11]
Nominee for the 2nd "21st Century Ding Jun Semiannual Literary Prize" in 2005[12]
Recipient of the first Man Asian Literary Prize, November 2007[13]
[From Wikipedia]
About the Author from Amazon
Jiang Rong was born in Beijing in 1946. In 1967, he joined the first wave of intellectuals who moved to the countryside as volunteers, living with nomadic communities on the Chinese border of Inner and Outer Mongolia for eleven years. Following his return to Beijing, Jiang embarked on postgraduate studies in economics and political science and assumed an academic position at a Beijing university. Now retired, he lives in Beijing with his wife. Wolf Totem is his first novel. Howard Goldblatt is the foremost translator of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in the West. He has published English translations of more than thirty novels and story collections by writers from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He has also authored and edited half a dozen books on Chinese literature. He is a winner of the Translation of the Year Award given by the American Translators Association. The founding editor of the journal Modern Chinese Literature, he has written for The Washington Post, The Times1 of London, Time magazine, World Literature Today, and The Los Angeles Times. He is currently a professor at the University of Notre Dame.
Additional Review here:
http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/document4825.html
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