Literary Master 1983

Chapter 398, "The Lisbon Maru," is published.

Yu Qie spent several days conducting research and visits in the UK.

One after another, prisoners of war who survived the Lisbon Maru contacted him through various channels. Some of them had already died, but their descendants, upon learning that Yuqie was investigating the truth, also came to him.

The Lisbon Maru had a gunner named Montegue who died when his son was only seven years old.

Yu Qie arrived at the soldier's grave named "Montagne" to express his condolences. There were no ashes of Montagne here, not even any clothing. Beneath the tombstone was a line of small writing left by Montagne's family:
[Mongetai may have died in the western Pacific Ocean, the cause of death being drowning].

It turns out that during World War II, the British government needed to "see the body" in order to avoid paying exorbitant pensions.

Montgetai died too far away for his body to be found. Therefore, the British government refused to recognize him as a martyr, classifying him as "missing." Montgetai's family, unsure of his fate, simply inscribed "possibly" on his tombstone.

As expected of the British Empire.

Yu Qie said, “We can now remove this ‘possibility’. Mr. Montgomery did indeed die in the East China Sea, otherwise he would certainly have returned to England! I can even point out the approximate area where he drowned.”

“The East China Sea? What kind of place is that?” asked Montgomery’s granddaughter.

Yu then retrieved a Chinese version of the world map.

The British were initially taken aback by the map: on the map of China, China was at the center of the world, not Britain.

Moreover, Britain was so small in the world, while China was so distant and enormous.

Yu Qie pressed his finger on the Zhoushan area of ​​Jiangsu and Zhejiang and said, "Mr. Montgomery was buried in this sea area."

Was his death heroic?

Yu Qie said, "It wasn't particularly heroic, but his death was very worthwhile. He dedicated his life to the fight against fascism. The sinking of the cargo ship carrying Mr. Montgomery was like a three-act play written by a novelist."

"What kind of three-act play?" Cowens asked.

Qian Zhongshu was also very interested, saying, "I didn't expect you to have studied British literature."

"Act One, setting and beginning, characters appear in turn: captured British soldiers and Japanese guards board the ship, and the prisoners of war are thrown into the harsh cabin."

"Act Two: Development and Confrontation. An American submarine hits the Lisbon Maru, and the ship sinks. The Japanese seal British prisoners of war in the ship's hold. The prisoners fight back desperately, jumping out of the hold to escape, only to be shot and killed by the Japanese. They are driven to despair!"

"Act Three: Rescue and Ending. Amidst the roar of war machines, fishermen from a small, unnoticed fishing village, driven by simple compassion, rescue the Englishmen. Their boats are rudimentary and they are untrained; they manage to save about a third of the people, while the rest sink in the sea."

The three-act play is a common story structure in Western novels. It was first used by bards in ancient Greek mythology. However, in this modern version, the victims of this three-act play are the British themselves, while the Chinese fishermen are portrayed as the celestial beings bringing divine light.

At this moment, Montgomery's son burst into tears: he was only seven years old then, and now he is over fifty years old, and he has suffered for decades.

There are many such cases. A British sailor named Kenneth was in a superposition of "possibly drowning" or "not knowing where to go to live in seclusion".

Yu Qie's investigation convinced Kenneth's family that the sailor had died more than forty years ago, making Kenneth's death an undeniable fact.

British sailor Barrow had a similar experience. Since Barrow "disappeared overboard," his daughter has lived in a fatherless home since childhood. When Yu Qie visited Barrow's home, Barrow's daughter cried and said, "My father was only twenty-nine years old when he died. He was so young. I don't know what else to say."

"This matter is like it's been buried underground; no one mentions it or knows about it to the public. Almost no one has heard of the Lisbon Maru."

British director Kevin Corvinus, who was traveling with the group, grew increasingly angry during the process: the government was clearly trying to cover up the truth.

He said to Yu Qie, "I don't believe it's all a coincidence, that everyone just happened to forget! The past is certainly a tragedy, but what's even more tragic is that we're unwilling to acknowledge it!"

The group randomly interviewed passersby on Oxford Street, a relatively bustling area in London, and the question they all asked was the same: "Have you heard of the Lisbon Maru?"

Whether they are sophisticated financial professionals or college freshmen, the answer is always the same: "Never heard of it."

"More than 800 British prisoners of war died there, and more than 300 survived. They were fished out by Chinese fishermen."

Interviewees were often extremely shocked: "Is this true? Such a big thing, why have I never heard of it before!"

Over the course of several days, the stark contrast between the suffering descendants of the Lisbon Maru prisoners of war and the completely ignorant British society made everyone feel as if they were dreaming.
How could such a major event in any country go unnoticed?
Yu Qie quickly wrote a novel of the same name, "The Lisbon Maru," which unfolds from the perspective of the British army. The novel vividly depicts the hellish suffering endured by prisoners of war in the cargo hold of the transport ship, as well as the ins and outs of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, including the tense plot of the Japanese army's subsequent search for prisoners of war on the island.

Qian Zhongshu was the first to see it. He devoured the novel, first letting out a long sigh... then asked, "Is your novel not finished yet?"

His finger pointed to the last page of the story, where several British soldiers had just evaded the Japanese sea patrols and recuperated at the homes of Chinese fishermen. They intended to hide there until after the war, but then they heard that the Japanese were going to come ashore to search for them—they were afraid that there were any living British prisoners of war who would expose their crimes to the international community.

So, the good days for these Englishmen came to an end, and they had to start fleeing again...

"I've only written the opening chapter!" Yu Qie said.

"Then this is a novella. I think you could write it longer, preferably a novel."

"I could never write something that long! Am I supposed to write about several generations and hundreds of characters? There's absolutely no need for that!"

"That's such a pity!" Qian Zhongshu sighed again. "I had hoped you could write more long novels."

In his view, Yu Qie's achievements in fiction are beyond question among contemporary readers. Yu Qie's comparisons have shifted to those of historically brilliant masters, which is also beneficial to Chinese literature.

Since the birth of *Don Quixote*, literature entered the realm of "modern literature," and the world experienced a "golden age" that began in the 16th century and ended in the early 20th century. Countless literary stars from various countries emerged, leaving behind nearly a hundred monumental works, including *War and Peace*, *Les Misérables*, and *David Copperfield*.

In this little game of "fighting crickets in the air" with foreign writers, Qian Zhongshu discovered the weakness of Chinese writers: they wrote too few novels.

Qian Zhongshu himself once tried to write "Fortress Besieged" into a full-length novel, and to make the story of "Fang Hongjian" a prelude to several generations, but unfortunately he did not have the talent in this regard and could only give up with regret.

Yu Qie laughed after hearing this, "You can't write a long novel yourself, but you want me to write one? How can I do that? Isn't 'Lurking' a long novel? 'The Way Out' isn't short either."

"That won't do, Yu Qie! It's not long enough! Can't you write a hundred or two hundred thousand words?"

"Are you trying to exhaust me to death?!"

The Englishman, Cowens, also read the novel. He noticed that Yu Qie had many clever touches in the story, such as the British sailor who couldn't understand the local dialect of the Chinese fishermen at sea, but grabbed their outstretched hands and was dragged onto the ship... Once on board, the British sailor saw the fishermen pull out a large knife and thought, "Oh no, I'm on another pirate ship. Jesus bless me!"
Then the fisherman took out a sweet potato, cut it in half with a knife, and gave him one half to eat.

The British suddenly felt that the Chinese fishermen were practically their gods and angels, and were ashamed of their misunderstanding...

In another scene, a British sailor, after being rescued, picked up his steaming bowl of rice and thanked an elderly man beside him, loudly saying in simple English, "This is good. This is very hot. Very good."

As a result, the old man next to him, wearing a Chinese-style bamboo hat, a black cotton-padded jacket, and loose black trousers, replied in fluent English: "Yes, this is very beneficial to us."

The sailor was greatly surprised and immediately said, "Your English is excellent! Are you the king of a Chinese island?"

The old man snorted: "No, I am Lieutenant Clarkson of the Royal Engineering Corps!"

The survivors all burst into laughter.

—Ke Wensi thought this kind of plot was great and very realistic.

The British at the time were heavily influenced by a demonizing education, believing that the Chinese would eat their flesh, and that "the Chinese eat everything." They also thought that the Chinese admired Western culture and that the rulers of society should be philosopher-kings educated in the Western style.

Yu Qie did not portray these British sailors as saintly, but rather truthfully recorded their inner thoughts.

As soon as the novel was finished, it was sent to Tokyo. Haruki Kadokawa of Kadokawa Shoten was very excited after reading it: "The Lisbon Maru not only has real history, but also many humorous plots, and the overall story is not too depressing. It will definitely be a bestseller after publication."

Haruki Kadokawa immediately assembled his elite team and arranged for Yu Qie's novel to be published. Within Kadokawa Corporation, some people worried that such a novel would anger the Japanese government and advised Kadokawa to lay low for a while, but Haruki Kadokawa angrily refused.

Someone else suggested, "Mr. Yu's novel isn't finished yet; it should be serialized in England. Why not wait until he finishes serializing it before publishing it together? Otherwise, what if he makes revisions?"

This is really a problem.

Haruki Kadokawa consulted Yokichi about his ideas, and Yokichi told him to publish it as soon as possible. So Haruki Kadokawa overruled the objections of others and demanded that "Lisbon Maru" be typeset and published within a month.

"Let's divide it into two parts. We should show our sincerity to a writer like Yu Qie."

And so, the Lisbon Maru manga became the most promising candidate for publication in Japan.

In the UK, Yu Qie also arranged for it to be published in the European Communications.

"European News" was a Chinese-language newspaper founded by local Chinese students, dedicated to introducing the customs and cultures of various parts of Europe and the current situation on the mainland to Chinese immigrants. After it started serializing the story, "Dragon News," a newspaper with a large circulation in Europe, also began serializing it. In a short time, Chinese people all over Europe began to learn about an old story from forty years ago.

"—Give me a newspaper!"

A blond, blue-eyed German man said. His German name is Wolfgang, and his Chinese name is Gu Bin.

The owner, a Chinese man who ran a newsstand, blurted out, "This is a newspaper specifically for Chinese people. It has both English and Chinese versions. I see you're a white man... Did you buy the wrong newspaper?"

“I made the right choice. I came here specifically for Yu Qie,” Gu Bin said, pointing to Yu Qie’s photo in the newspaper.

He paid with one hand and took the newspaper with the other, then squatted by the roadside like a Chinese person to read Yu Qiexin's new novel.

The story captivated him from the very beginning: the main characters were three British sailors!
If Gu Bin remembers correctly, this should be the first time Mr. Yu has written a white protagonist.

While there are several white college students in "2666", they are not the main characters; they are merely used to provide a scene. In contrast, in "Lisbon Maru", these sailors are the true main characters.

The greatest war in human history, a ensemble piece featuring British sailors and Chinese fishermen... the sheer scale of it is palpable.

Thinking of this, Gu Bin became excited. He read and analyzed at the same time: Yu Qie's new work seems to have a historical prototype. He mentioned a certain British army unit with certainty. As for the islands near Zhoushan, they are also real place names.

— Although the name “Lisbon Maru” was unfamiliar, Yu Qie would not randomly choose an awkward Japanese name.

Gu Bin skimmed through the text, trying to grasp the whole story as quickly as possible. He kept reciting the key points in his mind, jotting down the most important ones on paper... Eventually, Gu Bin forgot that he was reading the novel from a literary critical perspective; he was completely immersed in the world Yu Qie was telling.

As a German, viewing World War II naturally evokes a certain sense of awkwardness. Yet this novel glorifies Chinese fishermen, portrays the Japanese as clowns, and depicts the British as anything but virtuous. Some scenes even made Gu Bin applaud and shout – "Brilliantly satirical! The British are portrayed as ungrateful hypocrites!"
The only ones with the purest, most saintly qualities are those innocent fishermen who, despite lacking food and clothing, still went out of their way to help the British. They deserve all praise.

Gu Bin believed that Germans and Chinese had no enmity with each other, so he naturally felt a strong sense of identification with the characters.

Part of the story resonated with him. When Gu Bin became dizzy from reading and had to stand up to move around, he realized that it was getting dark, and he had no idea how long he had been squatting there!
He realized that this was at least a representative work.

(End of this chapter)