Reviews: book

Palestinian lives

After the Last Sky Palestinian Lives by late Edward W Said is a piercing portrait of Palestinian life and identity and was finally translated into Chinese 20 years after its debut.

The powerful essay, in both words and photographs, is based on the author's childhood experiences and analyzes the reasons behind the exile of Palestinians.

The world was ignoring Palestine as a nation and this exacerbated the Palestinians' sufferings, Said cries out in his book. He says his people were driven away from their homes, stereotyped as terrorists, and lost their identities.

A number of old photos taken in Jordan, Lebanon and Jerusalem in the 1970s by independent photographer Jean Mohr are another highlight of this book. It is astonishing that after 20 years, there has been so little change to the lives of the people illustrated in these photos.

Mai Ya

Dog debate

Since Chinese writer Yang Zhijun published Tibetan Mastiff (Zang'ao) in November 2005, a fierce debate has been raging among readers who either support Yang's work or Jiang Rong's popular novel Wolf Totem (Lang Tuteng) published in 2004.

The two camps are divided on what modern people should learn from the cruel, blood-thirsty wolf which strives for a living at all costs and the fearless Tibetan mastiff loyal to humans until the last drop of its blood.

Yang's second novel published this month adds more fuel to the debate this month. He is planning to complete a trilogy on the Tibetan mastiff, a shepherd dog favored by Tibetan herdsmen.

The new novel begins with a fierce battle between the wolf gang and the mastiffs. Yang claims he no longer portrays the wolf in stereotypes and has added some wolves who "behave well".

But if compared with Jack London's masterpiece The Call of the Wild which was published 100 years ago, the Chinese novels, either pro-dog or wolf, are not much of an advancement and even disappoint readers with a human-centered perspective.

Still, the debate does shed light on the plight of both the wolf and the Tibetan mastiff, who have been pushed to the verge of extinction by humans.

Liu Jun

(China Daily 01/30/2007 page20)