JIANG RONG

Cina, anni Sessanta. All'inizio della Rivoluzione Culturale, il giovane Chen Zen lascia Pechino per "educarsi al lavoro" nella Mongolia Interna ed entrare in relazione con le popolazioni locali poco inclini ad assoggettarsi ai principi che informano il nuovo governo cinese. In una terra estrema e affascinante, sullo sfondo delle crescenti tensioni con l'esercito sovietico, Chen Zen entra cosi per la prima volta in contatto con un mondo ancestrale in cui le dimensioni del sacro e del soprannaturale permeano ogni cosa, compresa la quotidiana e delicata relazione con i lupi, i grandi predatori che contendono all'uomo la supremazia in quell'inospitale territorio. A lui, rappresentante del governo cinese e del mondo moderno, si imporranno scelte difficili, talvolta drammatiche, da cui emergera profondamente mutato. Nato dall'esperienza diretta dell'autore, vissuto per undici anni nella Mongolia Interna, il romanzo e frutto di un lavoro di studio trentennale nel quale leggenda, storia e avventura si fondono per dare vita a un'opera intensa e controversa, che scuote dalle fondamenta il nostro modo di giudicare non solo la Cina di oggi, ma la storia stessa dell'umanita. Jiang Rong e lo pseudonimo di un intellettuale dissidente di cinquantotto anni, professore universitario di economia politica a Pechino. Da questo romanzo e tratto l'omonimo film di Jean Jacques Annaud.

Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote settlement on the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia, where he discovers life of apparent idyllic simplicity amongst the nomads and the wild wolves who roam the plains. But when members of the Peoples Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chens solitary existence is shattered, and the delicate balance between humans and wolves is disrupted.

Jiang Rong An epic Chinese tale, "Wolf Totem" depicts the dying culture of the Mongols--the descendants 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.

Wolf Totem has broken all sales records in China, with over one million copies sold in the first year. It is the epic Chinese tale depicting the dying culture of the Mongols, and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the Mongolian wolf ...

Published in China in 2004, Wolf Totem has sold millions of copies (along with millions more on the black market), outpacing everything except Maos Little Red Book. The novel draws on the authors experience during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s. Chen Zhen, a Beijing college student, volunteers to work in Chinas remote Inner Mongolia region as part of a movement to modernize the countryside. As he admires the balanced lifestyle of the nomadic herdsmen there, he also grows fascinated by the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf. But when government policies threaten the wolves extinction, he sees an unfolding ecological tragedyand a parable for Chinas explosive growth.

El gobierno chino traslada a un joven universitario de Pekín a Mongolia como represalia contra sus padres. Allí, Chen Zhen, obligado a convivir con un poblado nómada de pastores, aprende de ellos su ancestral estilo de vida y acaba contagiandose del respeto casi reverente que sienten por el lobo, animal que acaba convirtiendose en una obsesion para el. Totem lobo es la recreacion de una cultura que ya no existe. A traves de la descripcion de la vida y las leyes de la pradera, y de la lenta desaparicion de un ecosistema, Jiang Rong nos muestra otra de las caras de la politica del gobierno comunista tras la Revolucion Cultural.

Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote settlement on the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia, where he discovers life of apparent idyllic simplicity amongst the nomads and the wild wolves who roam the plains. But when members of the People''s Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chen''s solitary existence is shattered, and the delicate balance between humans and wolves is disrupted. Only time will tell whether the grasslands'' environment and culture will ever recover...Wolf Totem has been a sensation ever since it shot to the top of the Chinese bestseller charts in 2004. A beautiful and moving portrayal of a land and culture that no longer exists, it is also a powerful portrait of modern China and a fascinating insight into the country''s own view of itself, its history and its people.

Chinas runaway bestseller and winner of the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize.Published in China in 2004, Wolf Totem has broken all sales records, selling millions of copies (along with millions more on the black market). Part period epic, part fable for modern days, Wolf Totem depicts the dying culture of the Mongolsthe ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the worldand the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf. Beautifully translated by Howard Goldblatt, the foremost translator of Chinese fiction, this extraordinary novel is finally available in English.

Le Dernier Loup, c'est le récit d'une initiation, celle d'un étudiant chinois, Chen Zhen, qui doit apprendre, au contact des tribus mongoles, comment survivre... Les hordes de loups règnent encore su

A mig camí entre la novel"la, el treball d investigació i l autobiografia, Wolf Totem gira al voltant de les tradicions populars, l antropologia, la història, les llegendes i la filosofia mongoles i ens apropa a la complicada relació que tenen els mongols de les estepes amb els llops. Escrita per un dissident xinès sota pseudònim, de Wolf Totem se n han venut milions d exemplars a tot Xina i se n esta preparant una versió cinematografica que s estrenara coincidint amb els Jocs Olímpics de Pequín de 2008. Wolf Totem reflecteix amb vivacitat les vides dels mongols, dels personatges valents, coratjosos i forts que es creen en l entorn natural tan inhòspit en què habiten. Propi d aquest entorn és el llop, l anima de l estepa, que ha jugat un paper clau en el desenvolupament del poble mongol. La descripció que Jiang Rong fa del terrible predador de Mongolia ens commou per la humanitat de les seves observacions. Tot i que el llop és un animal terrible, té també una gran bellesa. Però més enlla de la llegenda i del lirisme de la descripció de les estepes mongoles, és possible fer una lectura política de la novel"la: Jiang Rong es pregunta per la identitat xinesa i per si els xinesos d avui s han convertit en xais mansois, disposats a acceptar qualsevol lideratge abans d agafar les regnes del seu propi futur, com farien els llops.