Wolf Totem - Softcover

Jiang Rong

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241144086 ISBN 13: 9780241144084

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2008

Synopsis

An epic Chinese tale in the vein of The Last Emperor, 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

About this title

About the Author:

Jiang Rong was born in Beijing in 1946. In 1967, he volunteered to join the first wave of intellectuals who moved to the countryside, and lived as a nomad on the outer edges of Inner Mongolia for 11 years. In 1978, he returned to Beijing, where he took a postgraduate degree in economics, and took a position as an economics professor at a Beijing university. He lives in Beijing with his wife, the renowned author and feminist critic Zhang Kangkang. Wolf Totem is his first novel.

From AudioFile:

In this autobiographical novel set in the 1960s, the author leaves his life as an intellectual in Bejing and goes to the remote grasslands of Mongolia. There he becomes enthralled with the nomadic life and the synergies between the mongols and their environment, particularly the wolves with whom they share the grasslands. The long passages of exposition and description are handled adroitly by Jason Culp. Maintaining a strong, steady pace, he adopts the air of an interested observer who is at times surprised by what he sees and hears. He uses accents to draw out the contrast between the speech patterns and tonality of the Mongols, the students among them, and the Chinese who later come to drive the people into the modern world. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0241144086
• ISBN 13: 9780241144084
• Binding: Paperback