Description

In the Eye of the Wild begins with an account of the French anthropologist Nastassja Martins near fatal runin with a Kamchatka bear in the mountains of Siberia Martins professional interest is animism she addresses philosophical questions about the relation of humankind to nature and in her work she seeks to partake as fully as she can in the lives of the indigenous peoples she studies Her violent encounter with the bear however brings her facetoface with something entirely beyond her kenthe untamed the nonhuman the animal the wild A change takes place that she must somehow reckon with

Left severely mutilated dazed with pain Martin undergoes multiple operations in a provincial Russian hospital while also being grilled by the secret police Back in France she finds herself back on the operating table a source of new trauma She realizes that the only thing for her to do is to return to Kamchatka She must discover what it means to have become as the Even people call it medka a person who is half human half bear

In the Eye of the Wild is a fascinating mindaltering book about terror pain endurance and selftransformation comparable in its intensity of perception and originality of style to J A Bakers classic The Peregrine Here Nastassja Martin takes us to the farthest limits of human being