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Herbert Rosendorfer. Die Groe Umwendung: Neue Briefe in die chinesische Vergangenheit. Cologne. Kiepenheuer & Witsch. 1997. 208 pages. DM 36. ISBN 3-462-02632-1.
Fifteen years ago Herbert Rosendorfer wrote the highly popular and successful novel Briefe in die chinesische Verganyenheit--over one million copies have been sold. The protagonist, the mandarin Kao-tai, has been transported by means of a unique time machine from the middle kingdom of China of the tenth century to twentieth-century Germany, specifically to Munich-he calls it "Min-chen" in "Ba-Yan." Kao-tai, who is the prefect of the imperial guild of poets, "The twenty-nine moss-covered walls of rocks," reports on his experiences in this new world to his friend Dji-gu by means of a unique pneumatic postal system. His primary...