The Blue Wolf cover

The Blue Wolf

No rating yet
Word count
146K words
ISBN
9787532771455

Tags

Summary

The Blue Wolf is a full-length historical novel by the Japanese author Yasushi Inoue. Centered on the life of Temüjin (1162–1227), the khan of the Mongol Empire, it traces his transformation from a tribal boy on the northern steppes into Genghis Khan. The novel begins with Temüjin's birth: after losing his father in early childhood, he wanders with his followers and survives abandonment, captivity, and tribal blood feuds, gathering strength each time he escapes danger, until in his forties he unifies the Mongol tribes and leads his cavalry in campaigns east and west, forging a vast empire that spans Asia and Europe. What sets the work apart is a question that runs through the entire book: is Temüjin truly his father's biological son? He repeatedly hears the ancient legend that the Mongols are descended from the union of a blue wolf and a silver deer, and so devotes his life to proving that he himself is that wolf of the steppe. Through this fixation, Inoue interweaves the conqueror's will, resilience, and ruthlessness with doubts about bloodline and an inner solitude, revealing the complex human dimensions of a historical figure seen both as a world conqueror and as a butcher. Combining grand battle scenes with delicate psychological portrayal, the novel is one of the most representative works in Inoue's series of historical novels set in Central Asia and Asia.

Editor's review

井上靖是日本战后最重要的作家之一,长期以中国与中亚历史为题材写作,其作品让日本读者认识西域,也让中国读者看到一位日本作家眼中的亚洲史。本书是他在充分阅读史书、长期构思后写成的成吉思汗传,兼具历史小说的大开大合与个人精神世界的深描。 与一般帝王传记不同,《苍狼》不满足于复述征战过程,而以“血统之谜”为线,把成吉思汗的一生写成一场漫长的自我确证:他需要一个神话,也需要用马蹄和铁骑去证明它。战争、屠城、结盟与背弃因而都不是孤立的场面,而是一个人心结的外化。井上靖的文字简洁克制,叙事节奏沉稳,宏大场面与内心独白转换自然。 中文版由陈德文翻译,上海译文出版社出版,是大陆流传较广的版本。对历史小说读者、成吉思汗与蒙古史爱好者而言,这是一部篇幅不长而分量不轻的作品。

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • 喜欢日本历史小说与亚洲题材文学的读者
  • 对成吉思汗、蒙古帝国史感兴趣的历史爱好者
  • 希望从文学视角而非纯史料理解人物内心的读者
  • 偏爱篇幅适中、叙事沉稳的传记体小说的读者

Not a good fit for

  • 期待严谨学术断代与史料考据的纯史学研究者
  • 希望读到轻快爽朗征战场面和爽文的读者

Reading tips

  1. 先读一读蒙古高原部族格局的简单背景,能更快进入人物关系。
  2. 注意“苍狼”意象与血统疑云的反复出现,它贯穿全书,是理解主人公的关键。
  3. 可将征服战争的叙述与其内心独白对照阅读,体会作者对英雄与暴力的双重视角。
  4. 读后可延伸阅读井上靖《敦煌》《楼兰》等作品,感受其西域题材的整体风格。

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

FAQ

这本书和森村诚一的《苍狼》是同一本吗?
不是。森村诚一《苍狼》是南海出版社2010年出版的另一部成吉思汗题材历史小说;本页条目为井上靖著、陈德文译、上海译文出版社2016年版。
《苍狼》是真实史实还是虚构小说?
它属于传记体历史小说。主要人物与重大事件依据史书,但心理描写、对话和部分情节铺陈是文学创作,不宜当作史学著作引用。
没有蒙古史基础能读懂吗?
可以。全书以人物一生为线索、人物有限,不需要复杂背景知识;但事先了解蒙古部族林立的大致格局,阅读会更顺畅。
这版是完整本还是节选?
上海译文出版社2016年版为全本,约14.6万字,281页,陈德文独立翻译。

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Yasushi Inoue Author · Japan · 1907–1991

Yasushi Inoue (1907–1991) was a Japanese writer and poet, born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. A graduate of Kyoto University's Department of Philosophy, he worked as a reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun and won the Akutagawa Prize in 1950 for The Bullfight. His works span fiction and travel writing, with representative titles including Dunhuang, Loulan, Confucius, and The Wind and Fire. Many of his works draw on the history of China's western regions, and his measured prose is notable for its historical atmosphere and psychological depth. He long devoted himself to Sino-Japanese cultural exchange, served as chairman of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, visited China 27 times, and received the Order of Culture in 1976. The collection includes 14 of his works, among them The Ice Wall, The Wind and Fire, Travels in the Western Regions, Wind and Waves, and a series of legendary women's novels, covering foreign literature and quality fiction.

More by the same author

Top rated in the same category