Description
This is the book of Temujin, of Temujin the Shepherd. Of Temujin, whose name and fame danced down the years to rise again and live as Marlowe's Tamburlaine. (There were also several Timurs, at least one of whom is said to have called himself Tamerlane, but they were all later, lesser, and no shepherds. Here's a pound says the legend-source was Temu- jin.) Of Temujin, whose fame and name so amazed and terrified the western world that centuries later and continents away he surfaced, transmuted but still recognizable, within the last glorious flowering of English and Scottish popular verse. (Nor come nor go by Carterha', for young Tam Lin is there.)
Quite late in life, Temujin the Shepherd was ennobled by the ruling military caste of his society as Genghis Khan.
The story of Genghis Khan has fascinated scholars throughout the centuries. In Chinese Whispers Robert Sproat takes a fresh, frequently surprising look at the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic character.
'A book of grand originality and imaginative brilliance...a writer from whom great things can be expected.' Douglas Dunn, Glasgow Herald
'Hardly a word is wasted or in the wrong place; the rhythms of the tailored sentences flow with an astonishing ease, never relying on flamboyance to obtain some very shocking and colourful effects.' New Statesman
