Customer Reviews

Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain: Martial Arts Fiction in Contemporary Chinese Literature

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a pleasant read but certainly not amongst the author's better efforts. The translation perhaps does not do justice to the original work in Chinese. Anyway, if you can, grab The Deer and The Cauldron, of which 2 books were already released in the trilogy, (Oxford University Press in HongKong, not the other OXford Univ. Press sites which do not do justice to this great book by not listing it.). Another wonderful read in this genre is the Blades From the Willows trilogy by HuanZhuLouZhu (publisher: Wellsweep, in UK, sold in US by Cheng and Tsui), translater: Robert Chard. Again 2 of the 3 books are available, although only 1 is available in the US. If you can grab a hold of either of these gems, be prepared for a treat. I have read many, many science fiction and fantasy books, from Tolkien to McCaffrey to Pratchett etc., and found that the Chinese Martial Arts novel genre is just as engrossing and entertaining as any I've read. Works like these should not be limited to the Chinese-literate but be translated to English to be enjoyed by the Chinese-illiterate as well.

The translation of this work is at best clumsy and frequently appalling. As a previous reviewer notes much appears to have been carried out using, poorly, a dictionary. Thus we have "knife" used to refer to what in English is commonly called a sabre. The reason being (I assume) that the character used to describe the weapon commonly means knife. Frequently, she has chosen arcane language. Thus we get "myrmidon" to describe a senior captain/bodyguard; the translater not appreciating that the term when used in English literature is either jocular or derogatory. Some phrases and clauses are meaningless. It all reflects badly on the editorial team at the Chinese University Press in Hong Kong and, unfortunately, tells one much about the standard of English here. Where does this leave the reader? Frankly, I cannot understand how anyone could give this book a high rating other than out of a desperate desire to read something of this genre. The Deer and the Cauldron is far superior. This book can only be recommended to somebody who is prepared to persevere with the translation out of an interest in martial arts literature.

I almost threw the book in the trash when I read the first page - I was so disappointed with the translation. How could anyone use a dictionary to translate martial arts terminology. Fortunately, I stuck around to read to page three, and could not put the book down afterwards. Such a unique plot, simple yet powerful characters with a conciseness in writing style rarely seen in Western works. Must read.

A great chinese fanatasy fiction with lots of individual characters. For those who liked Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Heroes of the Marsh, this book is of the same genre. This book is one of Jin Yong's earlier works, so the style is still a bit raw. For an even better read, try "The Deer and the Cauldron" Another thing to comment, is that the author is very detailed in the battles and how the characters are like, and is very knowledgeable in ancient chinese history which makes this book such an interesting read.

The whole setting boils down to the root of misunderstanding between 4 families who served the Emperor. The Wu family went through hardships, facing the endless revenge from the other 3 families, and lasted for 100 years. Finally the whole truth comes out at the top of the snowvy mountain, where the treasure buried by the Emperor 100 years ago! What were the secrets? Why was the misunderstanding not resolved before? Who was right? Who was wrong? Who betrayed who? Sworn Brotherhood, loyalty, betrayal, and more. Answers are revealed but the ending will require your deepest imagination and this is the best part of the story. If you are interested in knowing more about Chinese martial arts novel,this Jin Yong novel is a good introduction. Not his best work, I agree but once you finish this one, you will be asking for more! Others to look up for would be The Deer and the Cauldron, published by Oxford University Press.

I have just finished the novel. The story itself is okay, but the translation is horrible.

Why does Ms. Mok translate the book the way she did? Is it perhaps she feels that Chinese culture is such a mystery that everything needed to be translated, even using archaic and strange terms? Or is it also that since the Chinese language is inflexible in using foreign words, that she feels English is just the same (i.e. the Sanskrit word Yoga in English, Japanese, and French is 'Yoga', whereas in Chinese it's 'Yu Jia')? These are the reasons as to perhaps why she chose the words 'endomart' and 'pneuma' instead of more popular terms like 'nei-gong' or 'chi/qi' and why she prefers to translate names such as the character Ruan Zhongshi to Valour Ruan. I can't say as to the reasons, but the translation in the end is horrific. What makes it worse is how she seems to try to show off how erudite her vocabulary is by using words like 'volant' instead of 'flying' and 'myrmidon' instead of 'bodyguard'. And the biggest mistake is translating the word 'dao' to knife, which in Chinese the character is used for both sabre and knife.

As for the book, the story is good, but not Jin Yong's strongest novel. The novel is more like written in this order: There's a fight, there's some action going on and then a character decides to talk about the past. After the talk about the past, we go back to the present and then some other character talks about the past. Back to the present, alright someone else talks about the past, etc. This goes on until the very end of the book when the plot moves foward.

To Jin Yong's credit, this is a good novel in terms of action and how he constructs his character. To Ms. Mok's credit, she does provide a map, illustrations of weapons and dim mak/dian xue points to descibe the martial arts and techniques, as well as a family tree and a good introduction in order to explain the background of the plot in terms of history.

You're better off, however, getting this book used or from the library as this is not Jin Yong's strongest work.

Once you start reading several pages of the book, you cannot stop reading it until it is finished. You will be lost in ancient China. A bit of a warning here. This book is very addictive. You might forget about your work, and your daily routine.

As a translator myself, I'm well aware of the pitfalls of trying to translate something as culturally rooted as a wuxia novel. Olivia Mok, apparently, isn't, as this is amongst the worst "professional" translations I've ever seen published. Ideas are completely misrepresented; names of weapons and techniques are rendered anywhere between acceptably to completely incorrectly; and the whole thing is astonishingly lacking in readability, or even fluidity of language. The fact she apparently knew better than the established body of wuxia fandom and rendered "Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain" as "Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain" really should be a big flashing alarm.

I read the original in Chinese years ago, but hardly remembering the storyline, I turned to--Thank goodness for--the interpretations in Chinese series TV. Now it's vaguely coming back. Then I read the translated verison and was mildly disappointed. I understand it is exceptionally difficult to translate Chinese without losing some of the nuances intrinsic to this language and culture, so I commend the author for having embarked on this challenging feat. Perhaps, usinig simpler words so that the English-centric reader can better understand the prose would have been more effective.

This is one from the set of 12 novels written by Jin Yong. Too bad not all of them are translated. I know there's another one, The Book and the Sword, translated by Graham Earnshaw...