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Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain | 
 enlarge | Author: Jin Yong
Creator: Olivia Mok
Publisher: The Chinese University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $20.70
You Save: $2.30 (10%)
New (7) Used (7) from $9.89
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 177989
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 9622017339
Dewey Decimal Number: 895.1352
EAN: 9789622017337
ASIN: 9622017339
Publication Date: June 7, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The story took place in Snowy Mountain in the coldest part of Manchuria, one Winter's morning in 1781. The Dragon Lodge party ran into the Horse Spring Banditry who were there to unearth a buried casket. They were waylaid yet by the Peking Overland Convoy. All three parties had designs on the metal casket, supposedly housing a poniard, which was an heirloom of the Martial Brotherhood. A monk arrived on the scene and the invited the parties to the eyrie on the summit. The lord of the eyrie happened to be away summoning help to fight Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, who was scheduled to arrive on the summit at noon. While waiting, each one in the parties began recounting incidents which took place some twenty years before. The excitement, intrigue and action in these incidents are well dramatized, with one event firmly intertwining with others in the past, developing into a vendetta involving the offspring of several families. The story ends with a fight between Fox, the hero of the story, and his sworn enemy, but the result of the fight is untold, left to the imagination and creative power of individual readers.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 A valiant effort in translation, but... June 24, 2007
I read the original in Chinese years ago, but hardly remembering the storyline, I turned to--Thank goodness for--the interpretations in Chinese series TV. Now it's vaguely coming back. Then I read the translated verison and was mildly disappointed. I understand it is exceptionally difficult to translate Chinese without losing some of the nuances intrinsic to this language and culture, so I commend the author for having embarked on this challenging feat. Perhaps, usinig simpler words so that the English-centric reader can better understand the prose would have been more effective.
One star docked off for translation June 11, 2007
I have just finished the novel. The story itself is okay, but the translation is horrible.
Why does Ms. Mok translate the book the way she did? Is it perhaps she feels that Chinese culture is such a mystery that everything needed to be translated, even using archaic and strange terms? Or is it also that since the Chinese language is inflexible in using foreign words, that she feels English is just the same (i.e. the Sanskrit word Yoga in English, Japanese, and French is 'Yoga', whereas in Chinese it's 'Yu Jia')? These are the reasons as to perhaps why she chose the words 'endomart' and 'pneuma' instead of more popular terms like 'nei-gong' or 'chi/qi' and why she prefers to translate names such as the character Ruan Zhongshi to Valour Ruan. I can't say as to the reasons, but the translation in the end is horrific. What makes it worse is how she seems to try to show off how erudite her vocabulary is by using words like 'volant' instead of 'flying' and 'myrmidon' instead of 'bodyguard'. And the biggest mistake is translating the word 'dao' to knife, which in Chinese the character is used for both sabre and knife.
As for the book, the story is good, but not Jin Yong's strongest novel. The novel is more like written in this order: There's a fight, there's some action going on and then a character decides to talk about the past. After the talk about the past, we go back to the present and then some other character talks about the past. Back to the present, alright someone else talks about the past, etc. This goes on until the very end of the book when the plot moves foward.
To Jin Yong's credit, this is a good novel in terms of action and how he constructs his character. To Ms. Mok's credit, she does provide a map, illustrations of weapons and dim mak/dian xue points to descibe the martial arts and techniques, as well as a family tree and a good introduction in order to explain the background of the plot in terms of history.
You're better off, however, getting this book used or from the library as this is not Jin Yong's strongest work.
 Appalling translation April 2, 2002
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The translation of this work is at best clumsy and frequently appalling. As a previous reviewer notes much appears to have been carried out using, poorly, a dictionary. Thus we have "knife" used to refer to what in English is commonly called a sabre. The reason being (I assume) that the character used to describe the weapon commonly means knife. Frequently, she has chosen arcane language. Thus we get "myrmidon" to describe a senior captain/bodyguard; the translater not appreciating that the term when used in English literature is either jocular or derogatory. Some phrases and clauses are meaningless. It all reflects badly on the editorial team at the Chinese University Press in Hong Kong and, unfortunately, tells one much about the standard of English here. Where does this leave the reader? Frankly, I cannot understand how anyone could give this book a high rating other than out of a desperate desire to read something of this genre. The Deer and the Cauldron is far superior. This book can only be recommended to somebody who is prepared to persevere with the translation out of an interest in martial arts literature.
OK read but not the author's best December 1, 1999
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
This book is a pleasant read but certainly not amongst the author's better efforts. The translation perhaps does not do justice to the original work in Chinese. Anyway, if you can, grab The Deer and The Cauldron, of which 2 books were already released in the trilogy, (Oxford University Press in HongKong, not the other OXford Univ. Press sites which do not do justice to this great book by not listing it.). Another wonderful read in this genre is the Blades From the Willows trilogy by HuanZhuLouZhu (publisher: Wellsweep, in UK, sold in US by Cheng and Tsui), translater: Robert Chard. Again 2 of the 3 books are available, although only 1 is available in the US. If you can grab a hold of either of these gems, be prepared for a treat. I have read many, many science fiction and fantasy books, from Tolkien to McCaffrey to Pratchett etc., and found that the Chinese Martial Arts novel genre is just as engrossing and entertaining as any I've read. Works like these should not be limited to the Chinese-literate but be translated to English to be enjoyed by the Chinese-illiterate as well.
 Excellent book, lousy translation November 30, 1999
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I almost threw the book in the trash when I read the first page - I was so disappointed with the translation. How could anyone use a dictionary to translate martial arts terminology. Fortunately, I stuck around to read to page three, and could not put the book down afterwards. Such a unique plot, simple yet powerful characters with a conciseness in writing style rarely seen in Western works. Must read.
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