Salzman, Mark

Iron & Silk

ISBN: 0394551567
New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1986. First Edition. Hardcover. "Few, if any, foreigners have glimpsed the people and places Mark Salzman tells about in this unique, inspired portrayal of post-Cultural Revolution China and the Chinese. Shortly after he arrived in Hunan Province in 1982 to teach English, Salzman encountered Pan Qingfu, one of the nation's foremost Wushu (kung fu) experts and, as such, a cultural hero to the Chinese. Already a skilled martial artist, Salzman...accepted the master's invitation to become his one and only private pupil. Out of their surprisingly orthodox enactment of the traditional shifu-tudi (master-student) relationship grew a powerful and unusual friendship- and the opportunity for adventures both in and out of the martial arts." (from front flap) A memoir by the popular American writer Mark Salzman, his first & most acclaimed published work, & the basis for the 1990 film version starring Salzman as himself. Subtitled "A Young American Encounters Swordsmen, Bureaucrats and Other Citizens of Contemporary China" (jacket front cover), this memoir chronicles Salzman's experiences with his Master Wushu instructor & many other real-life characters who had undergone the turbulent period of China's Cultural Revolution & were now part of the new, transitioning China emerging in the decade following Mao's death (though still under his influence as it is today). Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket (likely first issue with "1/87" printed on rear flap), first edition copyrighted 1986, probable early but not first printing with number sequence "4689753" printed on copyright page. A classic of personal memoir- international journalism in its close-to-rarest original pre-filmed form. Book in very fine condition with only a touch of wear & fading to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; moderate rubbing & spotting to upper edge of text block; much less to side & lower edges of same. Interior very fine with upper corner of blank front endpaper clipped; otherwise substantially mint. Dust jacket fine with mild-to-moderate rubbing, scratching to front, back covers & spine; light wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same & flaps; red-colored ampersand at spine moderately faded. Very Fine / Fine. [Item #4630]

Price: $50.00