This noveall is an adaptation of the novel Mongolský vlk - Gandan(The Mongolian Wolf - Gandan), a book that Topol wrote inspired by a stay in Mongolia at the end of the nineties. Not much is known about the content, because Topol up till now has refused to publish it., Only a small excerpt was translated and published in the Dutch literary magazine "Armada" under the title Gandan
It was not until 2005 when Topol published the novella under the title Zlatá hlava (The Golden Head). It was also published in Dutch under the title Het gouden hoofd as the first title of the Moldaviet series by Voetnoot Publishers
As a journalist Topol travelled to Mongolia in the nineties and this trip inspired him to write this novel. Having written a rough manuscript of about 250 pages, he could not set himself down to make a final version of the book. He more or less lost interest in it and preferred to write a different novel, Working at Night, which after being published and translated in many languages made his name as a writer in the world. For years he did not want to return to his 'Mongolian' novel, and he merely published ten pages of the book in a literary magazine, under the title Gandan. In 2005 however Topol decided to adapt his novel into a short novel The Golden Head, which was first published by a small publisher in Prague and recently, in 2007, was added to a volume of all kind of shorter texts by Topol (it includes for instance also A Trip to the Train Station) under the title The Supermarket of Soviet Heroes.
The Golden Head tells the story of a young man, who in the sacred place of Gandan in Ulan Bator in Mongolia meets two old men. One of these old men is blind and in return for several bottles of vodka tells the story of his father and of himself. His father was a famous lama, who was the gatekeeper of Gandan and the guard of the golden statue of Buddha inside it. When his father heard the voice of God/Buddha, he turned religious and made a pilgrimage to Lhasa, the religious centre of Lamaism. This coincided with the coming of communism, imposed on Mongolia by the soviets. The lama's were persecuted and killed. His father however survived because he collaborated with the soviets. As a result the blind man himself as a young boy has all kind of privileges and attends a special school for communist party members. Because of the war (the Second World War) the soviets need gold for the manufacture bullets and shells, or so they say, and the golden Buddha in Gandan is therefore shipped to Russia. His father is shocked and dies, because he can't bear to live as guard of Gandan without the golden Buddha. The son is sent to the Soviet Union to study architecture, so he can help building up Mongolia with new bridges, buildings, railways etcetera. There he meets Stalin, who takes a liking to him. One day during his study in Moscow he rescues the hideous girl Olga in the Institute for Ethnography from the claws of a man who tries to rape her. Olga lives in the cellar of the Institute and takes possession of him. She wants him, they have regularly sex with each other and she wants to elope with him. But then the young boy finds the chopped up statue of the golden Buddha of Gandan and all kind of treasures from his country in the cellars of the institute, and he sees that his country and his people were betrayed by the Soviets. He makes plans to return to Mongolia and start a revolt, but in the mean time the communist party has decided to send him to Yakutsk and to work there. Olga wants to go with him, tells him she is pregnant, and when he is once again in the cellars of the Institute of Ethnography, where he takes pictures of the demolished golden Buddha and the other robbed stuff from his country to have proof of the betrayal by the soviets, he is caught by the father of Olga, who thinks he is spy who has raped his daughter. Instead of killing him, he blinds him with his knife. This is where the story ends. The old blind man now lives in Gandan.
This short piece of prose belongs to the best Topol ever has written. The language in the novel is really unique. After reading a part of this text several well-known Dutch authors like Arnon Grunberg, Margriet de Moor, Remco Campert were quite impressed. The internationally acclaimed Dutch author Cees Nooteboom said afterwards: "Topol's writing is sincere, passionate, and that is what I like."
