One City, One Book favors one of its own
La Cañada author Mark Salzman’s 1986 memoir “Iron & Silk,” the story of a young man’s search for meaning and self-mastery during a teaching assignment in Central China, has been selected as this year’s One City, One Book title.
The annual communitywide book discussion is planned for Oct. 11 at the La Cañada Flintridge Library. In previous years, Salzman interviewed noted authors. This year he was asked to take a starring role, explained Kathee Kenna, a member of the event’s selection committee.
Kenna said the 18-member panel — charged with the task of choosing a title from a California author who can participate in the discussion — decided to deviate from the script for this year’s event.
“We are a local group. So we thought, why not feature a local author?” Kenna recalled.
Instead of selecting a single book, the committee asked Salzman to be this year’s featured author and to pick from among his seven published works. In an interview Friday, the La Cañada author shared his reason for choosing the memoir.
“Of my books, I think ‘Iron & Silk’ has the most unusual material in it that the widest number of readers would find fascinating,” he explained, adding that a 1991 film adaptation of the novel earned a rare two thumbs up from movie reviewers Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
The novel introduces Salzman in 1982, a recent graduate from Yale University’s Chinese Language and Literature program asked to teach English at Hunan Medical College and enticed by the offer of introductions to some of China’s most revered martial arts instructors.
It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. When he was 12 years old and saw a kung fu master portrayed on TV, Salzman became fascinated by the man’s self-composure and inner peace.
“Apparently, he had learned something, he had tuned into this certain way of thinking that made him feel free,” he recalled. “I saw that and I thought, ‘I want that.’”
Driven to understand the ideologies at work behind martial arts, Salzman began practicing himself. His two-year journey to Changsha, capital of China’s Hunan Province, and lessons learned under the tutelage of kung fu master Pan Qingfu became rich, folkloric stories that eventually made their way into print.
The author said he hopes this year’s One City, One Book discussion takes a philosophical turn.
“What I am most looking forward to talking about at the event will be are these ancient philosophies, these ways of looking at things, applicable to modern life?” he said. “Do we have any control at all over how we feel about life and what our perspective is? Do we have the power to transform our lives substantially in any real way?”
Kenna and fellow committee members hope the talk draws a varied crowd, from those interested in Chinese culture to book lovers eager to pick the brain of a local celebrity.
“The most important thing this year is that we’re featuring a local author. He’s active in the community, and he’s one of us,” she said.
For more information on the event, visit lcfonecityonebook.org or call the La Cañada Flintridge Library, (818) 790-3330.
