Customer Reviews

Wolf Totem: A Novel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

During Mao's Cultural Revolution of the late 1960's, a young college student from Beijing named Lu Jiamin was "sent down" like so many of his fellow classmates to live among and learn from the peasants. In Lu's case, his "down" was actually "up" as he was sent to the far northern planes of Inner Mongolia. Some thirty years later, that young man had become a senior academician back again in Beijing and as well the pseudonymous author as Jiang Rong of a startling (for mainland China) book first published in 2004 under the name "Lang Tuteng." The book became an instant best-seller in China, spawning enormous Internet debate along with pirated copies, unauthorized spin-offs and sequels, and reported a movie version in the works. Recently translated by the venerable Howard Goldblatt and published in English under the name WOLF TOTEM (a direct translation of Lang Tuteng), the book has already been honored as the first-ever recipient of the Man Asian Literary Prize (the Asian equivalent of the Man Booker Prize for English Literature).

Although drawn almost autobiographically from Jiang Rong's personal experiences, WOLF TOTEM is essentially an allegorical novel. Its hero is the author's alter-ego, the young and impressionable "sent down" college student Chen Zhen. Chen and other students are assigned to live with sheepherders and learn their ways. Along the way, he learns about animal husbandry and the customs of a Chinese minority group, hunts wolves, steals a wolf cub from its mother's den in order to raise it, and watches the sudden, unstoppable intrusion of Beijing's destructive bureaucracy into Mongolia's life and lands (as embodied to the point of caricature by the stunningly indifferent Bao Shungui).

Of course, the allegorical aspect of the novel is the proximate cause of its notoriety in China. Jiang Rong makes clear that the aggressive wolves represent historically the warlike nomadic tribes such as the Mongols. They are the meat-eaters, the makers of history, and their spirit has been transferred over time to the West. By contrast, the passive and meek sheep represent the Han Chinese by his estimation - settlers, farmers, vegetable eaters, ruiners of the great grasslands, and the people mortally fearful of wolves. Through Chen Zhen's gradual awakening to Mongolian life and that of wolves, the author questions the spirit and soul of the Han Chinese, the massive majority of mainland Chinese people. In a very real sense, WOLF TOTEM calls into question the Chinese national character. It is this national psyche that has been habitually belabored within China by feelings of powerlessness in the face of the West, from the march of the Eight Powers into Beijing in 1900 to sayings like, "In the West, even the moon is bigger." It is also this national inferiority complex that motivates China's responses to currency devaluation, the Olympics, Tibet, and nearly every other aspect of its present-day relationship to the West.

Jiang Rong clearly poses other awkward questions as well about Chinese government policy. The Chinese steamroll blindly or blithely over Mongolian culture and tradition; even the well-intentioned Chen Zhen violates centuries-old custom of not raising a wolf out of self-centered curiosity. Equally discomfiting, the Han Chinese are portrayed as horrific despoilers of grasslands that have supported nomadic tribal existence for thousands of years. Later scenes in the book portray a virtual Mongolian Eden of rich grassland, pure water, and abundant wildlife callously plundered to destruction by ignorant and avaricious Chinese officials and "settlers." Heart-rending descriptions of Chinese wolf hunting by rifle, mass killing of marmots, and slaughter of swans generate strong emotional feelings of anger and irretrievable loss in the reader. The sense of loss is palpable, particularly as expressed through Chen's "adoptive father" Old Man Bilgee. At times, old Bilgee's powerless horror at unfolding events and inescapable loss was reminiscent of Iron Eyes Cody, the "crying Indian" from the 1970's anti-littering television commercial campaign.

On the plus side, Jiang Rong's book is a wonder of wolf naturalism, a literary work that draws pictures of life on the Mongolian steppe as effectively as a National Geographic photo spread. While not nearly competitive with the literary strengths of Cormac McCarthy, some of the "wolf as hunter" and "wolf as hunted" scenes are reminiscent of McCarthy's extraordinary opening scene of man versus wolf in THE CROSSING. In fact, the writing at times waxes so lyrical over wolves and their seemingly extraordinary hunting skills as to border on unbelievable, totemic in the most pantheistically religious sense of that word. The author's intimate descriptions of nomadic herding life in the harsh Mongolian lands are equally powerful. For a mainland Chinese audience perhaps not yet accustomed to the message of ecological systems and symbiosis, Jiang Rong's exposition of the living relationships among herdmen, sheep, horses, wolves, gazelle, marmots, and even field mice must also seem positively revelatory.

On the minus side, WOLF TOTEM's literary merits are somewhat less stratospheric. As the main character, Chen Zhen lacks the necessary internal depth that would enable the reader truly to empathize with him. We never learn anything about his pre-Mongolian life or background, his family, or his feelings about having his education disrupted by Mao's notions of re-education. The wolf cub Chen adopts and hopes to raise to adulthood is in many ways a more empathetic figure, as are the old wolf-hunting dogs Erland and Yellow. Jiang Rong's writing is unnecessarily polemical and too often strident if not didactic. A twenty-page Epilogue taking place as a return visit some thirty years later does not fit the main text stylistically and only detracts by overexposition from the story Jiang Rong has already told.

WOLF TOTEM adds yet another to the list of recent artistic works, mostly cinematic, that idealize Mongolia as a sort of lost Eden or lost innocence (see for example, the movies THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL, MONGOLIAN PING PONG, THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG, and even the current release of TUYA'S MARRIAGE) This is a wondrously entertaining story and remarkable if only for having originated out of mainland China. Read this book for its fascinating descriptions of wolf behavior and nomadic life and also for the light of self-examination and self-doubt it shines on a growing national power.

First of all, let me be honest that I read the original Chinese version. It was one of the best books I have ever read in my life, exciting and conflicting, and inspring.
How is it exciting?-- the stories of wolves and their interactions with humans, particularly the minorities in the northern part of China. The people in that area believed (and probably is the truth, i'm not sure about that part) their very ancestor was abandoned in the wild and was miraculously saved by a mother wolf who fed the human infant with her [...]. Therefore, they respect wolf as the life saver of all of them. They also view wolves as messengers from their God. After someone dies, they leave the body in the wild where wolves constantly come by. They want the wolves to eat the body and carry the dead person's soul to their God. They not only respect wolf, but almost treat it as a superior deity. They worship wolf.
However, they couldn't resist the reality that wolves are not friendly to human. And here's where the conflicts kick in. They have to respect wolf due to their religious view, and at the same time they have to fight wolves to protect themselves and their farm animals. The conflict between emotion and reality makes this book more than interesting.
The inspiration: this book is more than the breathtaking battles between human and wolf. The author analyzes deeply into Chinese history, civilization, and culture using the characteristics of wolf. At the end of the book, the author concludes that the reason China has been a weak player in the world stage in the past few centuries is because long years of peaceful farming culture has turned the country into a gentle sheep, whose people don't even have the courage to stand up to protect themselves when being attacked. It offers a very unique and insiprational view of Chinese civilization.

The publisher of Wolf Totem says that this novel is an epic Chinese tale and that is true. My wife received an advanced copy requesting a blurb, and she didn't have time to read the novel, so I did and it kept my attention. The main reason I kept reading was because I have had an interest in the Mongols since I was a child. Wolf Totem taught me a lot about this almost extinct culture. The one new thing I learned was the fascinating connection between wolves and Mongols and why this connection may have been the reason why Genghis Khan was so successful in his conquests. I recommend this novel to anyone that wants to learn more about the life of the Mongols and another aspect of the Cultural Revolution (Both Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie Fiction Anchor Trade Paperback and Red Azalea : Berkley Trade Signature Edition by Anchee Min show different aspects too). However, the philosophy of maintaining a balance with nature is a bit overdone. I got the message the first time the characters talked about it but then the topic comes up over and over and over--a bit to much for my taste as I felt it got in the way of the story that was taking place between the main characters and the wolf pup they were attempting to raise. I won't give away the but don't expect it to be a happy. Most Chinese novels don't end with happy endings. The publisher also said that the novel was 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. That is also true of Wolf Totem.

I really enjoyed this book, but two major flaws prevented me from giving it a better rating. First, the author can be preachy and repetitive at times; not that I disagree with his views on Chinese culture and the relationship between man and nature, I just find it somewhat annoying that the author frequently interrupts the narrative to express the same ideas over and over again. Second, all the human characters, with the possible exception of Bilgee, are one-dimensional and dull. Good thing that the wolf is the main character of this book.

Wolf Totem is, in many places, a shocking novel for people who are uneasy with depictions of the basic harshness of a nomadic existence; there is nothing particularly Rosseauian about it's depiction of the life of Mongol herdsmen. Yet the most shocking thing about Wolf Totem is simply the fact that, rather than being banned by China's censors, this intensely political novel is one of the most popular works in modern China.

This novel, as the other reviews relate, is the story of Chen Zhen, a student from Beijing who went to live in the Mongolian countryside during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, whose ideology and development campaigns serve as a backdrop for the entire novel. In the process, Chen Zhen- a man deeply sympathetic to the Mongols and their way of life- studies the lore of the wolf, even going to the extent of attempting to raise a wolf cub. Along the way, he is faced with the difficulties of attempting to raise a wild animal in a domesticated environment, and faced with criticism from both the tribal leaders and the local party cadres. As the novel progresses (and in it's epilogue), Chen witnesses the destruction of the grasslands as they transform into barren yellow deserts- the same deserts that pour gravel on to Beijing today.

While criticism of the Cultural Revolution and Mao's excesses is generally permitted in China today, the party is considerably more wary of anyone who casts aspersions onto the post "reform and opening" economic policies of Deng Xiaopeng and his successors, which this novel undoubtably does. It's take on the destruction of the Mongolian grassland's natural balance in the name of socialist development presents a challenge to any defenders of the current order in China- and a call for ecological awareness.

Highly recommended, for anyone interested in this period of Chinese history.

What a great book this could have been.

During the Cultural Revolution, a Han Chinese student from Beijing, with intellectual family affiliations, which made him double suspicious to the tyrants of the day, spent years with shepherds and hunters in a grassland area of Inner Mongolia, with the descendants of Jengis Khan. (Thousands of young people had to make similar experiences; my assistant in my current job spent years watching pigs in Manchuria.)

He developed a deep respect for the culture of the nomads, and a strong fascination with the wolves that were at that time still populating the wild land. Descriptions of wolf observations are the strongest part of the book. Also strong are the thoughts about the co-existence of the Han and the Mongols. His 'host' and mentor, an experienced shepherd and hunter, had nothing but contempt for the soft civilized farmer nation, that had at some time in the past overcome the rule of the Mongols and turned the power situation around.

Essential element in the nomad civilization is the veneration of the wolf as the teacher and guardian of life. Jengis Khan conquered the world because he learned from the way of wolf packs in hunting. Wolves are protecting the environment by eliminating overpopulations of wild grazers, like gazelles. Co-existence is hard and precarious though, with scary encounters and constant fights for the life of the herds.

And then the stupidity of state power destroys the habitat: the area is chosen for farmer settlement, wolves are eliminated, the grassland dies. Beijing suffocates in sand storms every spring.

What should have been a great book is just an interesting one, unfortunately. Hard to say whether the dry writing is the author's or the translators fault, but a fact is, when it should be exciting and suspenseful, it is more often dreary and a little boring. China does not have an abundance of good fiction writers, to my sorrow.
This story ought to have had a Jack London at the typewriter!

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. To achieve that, the author has created some implausible dialogues that are a little heavy-handed, yet it remains a beautiful book!

This is a wonderful book, all the more enjoyable because it comes from a culture that does not produce many books that are successful (or even available) in the West.

This books enormous success in China strikes me as evidence that cultures all over the world are coming to understand the same thing; the whole human race needs to re-think our relationship with nature. There is much that our world can teach us, if we are ready to learn.

This book is not angry; it is not preachy; but it is powerful.

Highly recommended.

Wolf Totem was officially released in China in 2004, and has since become a bestseller, in fact, only Mao's Red Book has sold more copies in China. Before its official release it was also popular, though it was banned by the government. Surreptitious copies were passed around, and the author was identified only by his pen name, Jiang Rong. The book was critical of the communist government, and the fact that the once banned book is now a best seller signals a sea change in China.

Wolf Totem begins its story during the Cultural Revolution and it is a quasi autobiographical story, so much of what is described probably happened to the author. Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen and other students are sent to Inner Mongolia to learn from and teach the nomadic Mongols who live there. They are the proud descendents of Genghis Khan and believe in a god, Tengger, who oversees a balance between the Grasslands, Man, and the Wolf. They both fear and revere the wolf; while they hunt wolves they would never try to destroy all of the wolves, because their fates are intricately linked. Without the wolves the mice, gazelles, rabbits, and marmots would overgraze the grassland, and the desert sands would soon take over. When a Mongol dies, his body is even left to be eaten by wolves, in a 'sky burial' so that his spirit can rejoin the earth, as he literally becomes a part of the grassland once again.

The Mongols hold the Wolf as their sacred totem, but are also in a constant battle with them, protecting their sheep, cows, horses, dogs, but most of all, themselves, from them. The Mongol women are fierce, and by living with the wolves, they have overcome all fear. Gasmai, the daughter of Bilgee, the Mongol patriarch, is a perfect example of a fierce Mongol Amazon:

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Chen was awakened by Gasmai's frantic cries and the wild barking of dogs. After pulling on his felt boots and buttoning up his Mongol robe, his deel, he ran out of the yurt on shaky legs, flashlight and herding club in hand. The beam of light sliced through the snow to reveal Gasmai holding on to the tail of a wolf, trying to pull it away from the densely packed sheep. The wolf tried desperately to turn its fangs on her. Meanwhile, the stupid, fat sheep, petrified by the wolf and nearly frozen by the wind, huddled together and kept backing up against the windbreak, packed so tightly the snowflakes between their bodies turned to steam. The front half of the wolf was immobilized; it could only paw at the ground and snap at the sheep in front of it, all the while engaged in a tug-of-war with Gasmai. Chen staggered over to help but didn't know what to do.
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Bilgee has many tales to tell of the wolves, and also of how the Mongols have learned many lessons from the wolves about the art of warfare. Though the Han Chinese have The Art Of War by Sun Tzu, Bilgee feels that Genghis Khan was much more knowledgeable on the subject, and put that knowledge into practice. Genghis learned about The Art Of War from the wolves, rather than Sun Tzu:

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There's another range of mountains behind that one. It's not part of our pastureland, but it's famous around here. The old people say that Genghis Khan's great general Muqali fought a battle there. He drove several thousand mounted Jurchen warriors of the great Jin dynasty into a snowdrift, and the following spring he sent men back to collect the spoils of war. There were mountains of swords and spears and bows and arrows, plus helmets and armor, and saddles and lanterns. Where else could he have learned that but from wolves? If you add up all the major battles involving Mongols, more than half were fought with skills learned from the wolves.
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Along with all the historical and theoretical knowledge in Wolf Totem there are also some very exciting, visceral passages that place you right in the middle of the action, where man, wolf, dog, and horse battle for their lives:

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When the ambush was sprung on the wolves, their ranks were thrown into chaos. They were caught in the sort of trap they themselves used with such skill and familiarity. With that knowledge, they were more panic-stricken than the gazelles they had once trapped, and they were furious. As their sense of disgrace gave way to rage, they turned and headed back downhill, giving up the higher ground to engage in a decisive battle with the men and dogs. With reckless disregard for their own lives, they tore into the line of charging dogs, sending many of them tumbling. The snowy slope was turned into a site of terrible tangled warfare, with fangs--wolf and dog--ripping and tearing, sending snow and animal fur flying. Dogs whined, wolves howled, dog blood and wolf blood spurted from necks and heads. The horrified students, who had never seen such bloody warfare, were speechless.
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Swans are also revered, and Chen's friend and fellow student Yang has a special reverence for them, tinged with regret that their idyllic pond would soon be wiped out, described in some of the book's most poetic passages:

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Ripples appeared on the lake surface, those in the west mirroring the cold blueness of the night sky, while those in the east reflected the warm colors of sunset. The ripples spread slowly, concentric circles of agate red, emerald green, translucent yellow; then came crystal purple, sapphire blue, and pearl white, alternating cool and warm, the tones of noble quality. The view that spread out before him seemed to augur the sad yet enchanting death of the swans. Tengger had sent down the precious lights as a prelude to the parting of its beloved swans from the clear waters.
The ripples continued their slow march, like the overture to a tragic drama in which the audience can hardly bear to watch the lead actor. Yang wished that the ballet about to unfold would have a natural background and that the lead actor would never appear. But from amid the inky green reeds, one swan after another glided out onto the lake, its multicolored surface and the canopy of sky above creating an enormous stage. The swans had changed into blue evening wear, which turned the yellow spot on the crowns of their heads a cold purple. Their graceful curved necks looked like bright question marks, questioning heaven, questioning earth, questioning the water, questioning people, questioning all living creatures on earth. They moved silently, then waited for answers. But none were forthcoming. The reflecting ripples on the surface shimmered slightly, transformed into their own question marks, until a breeze splintered them amid the light of tiny wavelets.
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Chen's interest in learning about the wolves grows into an obsession, and he foolishly tries to raise a wolf cub. Bilgee considers it a blasphemy, the proud spirit of the wolf could never be tamed--should never be tamed. While Chen loves his cub and tries to raise it as best he can, the rift with his mentor Bilgee can never be healed, and he will grow to regret taking the cub. Also, the fact that they have the cub could make them a target for an all out assault from the wolf pack and the cub's enraged mother. In one of the more poignant passages Jiang Rong, or his quasi autobiographical narrator, Chen, describes a chilling encounter between the cub and a wolf pack:

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With no interference from the dogs, the cub listened to the howls from the wild. He stuck out his chest, pricked up his ears, and closed his eyes. He'd learned to listen carefully before trying to imitate the sound. The howls were aimed at him, and he was anxiously trying to identify the source, turning his head toward the sound. He began running around, since the howls came from three sides.
By listening carefully, Chen detected a difference in that night's howls. The night before, they had been more unified, as if to harass the humans, but now there were variations, some high, others low, like questioning, testing, even perhaps a mother wolf calling out to her cub. Chills ran through his body as he listened.
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The Bottom Line is that Wolf Totem is a great book that covers many topics: Chinese and Mongol history--both ancient and recent, the balance of man and nature--and it also howls with excitement. Read Wolf Totem, and you will clearly hear the call of the wild, as clear as a pack of Mongolian Wolves howling at the moon.

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Howard Goldblatt's translation of Jiang Rong's "Wolf Totem" won the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize. The original was a national bestseller in China, and Jiang Rong can be considered the direct descendant of Lu Xun, China national television series "River Elegy, and other critics of Chinese culture.

The English translation is not great, and seems Professor Goldblatt who early in his career did wonderful work translating Mo Yan's books no longer cares or tries. Of course, he doesn't have much to work with. While obviously intelligent and sensitive Jiang Rong is not a writer - he's more of a philosopher trying to educate his people. Nevertheless, every educated Chinese has read this book, and anyone who has an intellectual interest in China should read this book as well.

The novel's hero Chen Zhen is a Beijing student sent to live with the Mongolian nomads, where he develops a deep appreciation and respect for their lifestyle and for the animal that they hunt and worship: the wolf. The wolf is the pivot of the eco-system that is the grassland, maintaining the balance of life by killing those rodents that most harm the grassland. In Roman legend a wolf reared and raised Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, and the Mongolian people also believed they were reared and raised by wolves: the wolves taught them the importance of unity and strategy, and by constantly threatening their horses the wolves also made Mongolian warhorses fast and sturdy. No wonder then that with wolves as their teachers the Mongolians could conquer half the world, and defeat the millions of peasant soldiers of the Song dynasty.

Chen Zhen is merely a stand-in for the author, who is explicit in his criticism of Confucian culture and agrarian society:

"Our Confucian guiding principle is emperor to minister, father to son, a top-down philosophy, stressing seniority, unconditional obedience, eradicating competition through autocratic power, all in the name of preserving imperial authority and peaceful agriculture. In both an essential and an awareness sense, China's small-scale peasant economy and Confucian culture have weakened the people's nature, and even though the Chinese created a brilliant ancient civilization, it came about at the cost of the race's character and has led to the sacrifice of our ability to develop. When world history moved beyond the rudimentary stage of agrarian civilization, China was fated to fall behind." (page 304)

The author compares Westerners to wolves, and Chinese to sheep:

"Sheep are truly stupid animals. When the wolf knocked the unfortunate sheep to the ground, the other sheep scattered in fright. But the entire flock soon calmed down, and there were even a few animals that timidly drew closer to watch the wolf eat a member of their flock. As they looked on, more joined them, until at least a hundred sheep had virtually penned the wolf and its bloody victim in; they pushed and shoved and craned their necks to get a better look. Their expressions seemed to say, "Well, the wolf is eating you and not me!" Either that or, "You're dying so I can live." Their fear was measured by a sense of gloating. None made a move to stop the wolf.
Startled by the scene, Chen was reminded of the writer Lu Xun, who had written about a crowd of dull-witted Chinese looking on as a Japanese swordsman was about to lop off the head of a Chinese prisoner. What was the difference between that and this? No wonder the nomads see the Han Chinese as sheep. A wolf eating a sheep may be abhorrent, but far more loathsome were cowardly people who acted like sheep." (page 319)

Indeed, the author believes that for Chinese civilization to still exist is an accident of its geography and population:

"Temperament not only determines the fate of a man but also determines the fate of an entire race. Farming people are domesticated, and faintheartedness has sealed their fate. The world's four great civilizations were agrarian nations, and three of them died out. The fourth, China, escaped that fate only because two of the greatest rivers - the Yellow and the Yangtze - run through her territory. She also boasts the world's largest population, making it hard for other nations to nibble away at her or absorb her, but maybe also because of the contributions of the nomadic peoples of the grassland." (page 174)

The author believes that he has found the secret of the West's power but the book concludes on a bitter note. A new influx of Chinese farmers hunted down wolves, and the grassland - which had given birth to the powerful conquerors the Mongols, the Huns, and the Manchus - became a desert. Yet again China's sheer demographics has conquered and destroyed.