Nonsense Does Not Make Sense – book review of Wolf Totem
Antoine
Student Number : ********
Wolf Totem, a book has sold well for a very long time, now is again gaining attention because of the film which is based on it. Actually, after reading the book and watching the film, I think they are very different. But whether it is a book or a film, the story grounds in a terrible hypothesis, which is the so-called wolf “totem”.
Jiang Rong maybe really thinks that public’s awareness is limited, so he just pieces together a grotesque story fulled of mistakes. As I have mentioned before, first we shouldn’t say that the Mongolian regards the wolf as the wolf totem, it proves that wolf totem never exists in Inner Mongolia. Actually they hate the wolf very much because the wolf may cause them trouble.
What’s more, I can stand that he admires highly of the wolf’s ability of organization even I know clearly there are many other animals who also have the ability. Just let it be. What I can’t stand anymore is that he gives the most profound cultural meaning to the wolf’s any behavior. He even believes that in some respects human’s degradation is because of the loss of wolf spirits. It’s ridiculous somehow. In this point of view, Jiang Rong stultifies himself: in one hand, he remembers the glory of Mongolia, which in his words is fulled of wolf spirits; in the other hand, he hates the Han because they kill the wolf, he think it’s an unfair battle. He supports the wolf spirits which include aggressiveness and the desire to conquer, but he also has the tenderness to wolf.
Jiang Rong exaggerates the wolf, just like an old saying: going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short.
I think the book would be a great animal novel and the film would be a great animal film if they just keep the part of description of wolves. But most of all, Jiang Rong thinks he has the great nation’s duty which is very solemn and profound. Then he makes many scary propositions under the so-called “wolf spirits”. Let us see what problems the author want to solve:“ Why hundreds of thousands of Mongolia cavalries could go to Europe to massacre? How can Chinese nation have the vast territory today? Whether agricultural civilization has conquered nomadic civilization in history? Or it is nomadic civilization that made blood transfusion to agricultural civilization, so Chinese civilization can continue? Whether the reason why Chinese civilization has never been interrupted is that there is a wolf totem culture? Then, we make a detailed inquiry, we all regard ourselves as the children of the Yellow Emperor, but whether we know that ‘Dragon Totem’ may just come from “Wolf Totem”? Then whether we could uncover the secrets of the Dragon Totem Worship of Han nation? Whether we are descendants of the dragon or the wolf?”
Mon Dieu! I still can’t believe how could he write these words.
As we all know, there are more and more people who have beaucoup strange and crazy ideas. And I agree that a novel can be made up, just like many great fictions. So it doesn’t matter if Jiang Rong says this is a fiction. But in an interview he said “many stories in my book really happened and have their source”, he even regarded the book as “a semi-biographical novel”, which I can’t bear. At least, a novel can’t go against the historical fact, and Wolf Totem did, and the author doesn’t admit it, and now it is read by hundreds of thousands people, and many people believe what this book says is all truth. This is the most terrible thing. This is actually one way people abuse the concept of history.
The real animal world is: hatred, loneliness, hunger and pain, these are basic feelings of animal, rather than the more complex human emotions. You can compare, but do not deceive yourself and others.
In a word: Nonsense does not make sense.
2015.4.9