The Lost Boat

Name: The Lost Boat
ISBN: 9787533959258

Ge FeiZhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaOct 2020

4.1

Word count: 140K words
Chapters: 8
ISBN: 9787533959258

Report an error Find this book

Summary

The Lost Boat is a collection of novellas and short stories by Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Ge Fei, comprising seven works. Most of these stories use "memory" as their vehicle: in the looping repetitions of recollection, the order of time and space breaks down, and the stories often arrive at endings full of inner contradiction yet deeply thought-provoking. The title story, The Lost Boat, is Ge Fei's breakthrough work: it begins with the suspense of Brigade Commander Xiao's disappearance for several days, then, through the strict temporal sequence of "the first day," "the second day," and so on up to "the seventh day," gradually reveals how Xiao ultimately steps into life's disaster. With plain, calm narration, Ge Fei teases out the subtle essence of fate's unpredictability, lending even his realistic strokes an air of mysterious terror. The title "The Lost Boat" symbolizes the unknowability of life itself.

Editor's review

Ge Fei's The Lost Boat, a representative work of his early avant-garde period, constructs a textual world of memory, fate, and historical contingency through an intricate narrative labyrinth and a poetic language style. This is not a war novel in the traditional sense; rather, it treats the grand historical backdrop (the Northern Expedition) as a blurred, distant setting, focusing on the individual's uncontrollable rise and fall amid the crevices of history. The protagonist Xiao's seven-day experience, interwoven with diary entries, recollections, and multiple narrative perspectives, reveals the unreliability of time and memory. Ge Fei writes with cool restraint of fate's contingency and inevitability; the door to the "forbidden zone" is both a geographical boundary and a metaphor for the psyche and destiny. The novel's pervasive sense of fatalism and mystery lifts it beyond its specific era to explore universal predicaments of human existence. From a literary-historical perspective, The Lost Boat demonstrates the avant-garde writers' enthusiasm for narrative experimentation in the 1980s, and its technique of "narrative absence" has had a lasting influence. Reading this book is not merely reading a story of love and war but experiencing the dissolution of certainty and a profound reflection on the relationship between history and the individual.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in avant-garde narrative experimentation
Readers who enjoy exploring fate metaphors and philosophical reflection in fiction
Readers who appreciate refined language, hazy atmosphere, and poetic texts
Literature enthusiasts seeking to understand representative works of the "avant-garde fiction" wave in contemporary Chinese literary history

Not a good fit for

Story-oriented readers who expect traditional linear narrative, tight plotting, and intense conflict
Readers uncomfortable with textual ambiguity and open endings who seek clear answers

Reading tips

Pay attention to the use of "absence" in the novel and consider the possible meanings of what the author deliberately leaves unwritten
Read alongside Ge Fei's later works (such as the "Jiangnan Trilogy") to observe his trajectory from formal experimentation back to classical storytelling
Don't rush to sort out every timeline on a first reading; first absorb the atmosphere and sense of fatalism created by the language

About the publisher

Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House is a Chinese publisher specializing in literary publishing. Judging from the 808 titles in the database, its publishing areas cover world classics, foreign literature, social novels, folk literature and classic works, as well as modern and contemporary literature and prose. Representative titles include foreign literary translations such as Anna Karenina, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, In Praise of Shadows and The Complete Tragedies and Comedies of Shakespeare, alongside classic works by Lao She and Lu Xun such as Camel Xiangzi, Teahouse and Wandering. Its authors and translators include Leo Tolstoy, Cao Ying, Lao She, Yukio Mishima, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and Zhu Shenghao. The press emphasizes the translation and introduction of classic texts and the compilation of native literary works, giving equal weight to Chinese and foreign literature. Owing to limited public information, its specific series and editorial policies are not elaborated here.

版权信息
追忆乌攸先生
迷舟
陷阱
褐色鸟群
没有人看见草生长
大年
武则天

FAQ

What is the setting of The Lost Boat?

The story is set in 1928 during the Northern Expedition, in Yuguan, near the battlefield. But war serves mainly as a background of turbulence and uncertainty; the novel's core focus is the individual's inner turmoil and fateful choices within that setting.

How should the title "The Lost Boat" be understood?

"The Lost Boat" is a central metaphor. It refers both to the protagonist Xiao, like a boat lost on the river of fate, unable to steer his own course, and to the bewilderment and powerlessness of people caught between the currents of history and personal emotional entanglements. "Lost" points to the predicament of cognition and the unknowability of fate.

What is the famous "narrative absence" in the novel?

This is the signature technique Ge Fei employs in The Lost Boat. At key points in the plot (for example, Xiao's true purpose in going to Yuguan, or the specific details of his death), the author deliberately omits or leaves blanks without providing definite information. This "absence" breaks the causal chain of traditional fiction, forces readers to participate actively in constructing meaning, and reinforces the mystery and insolubility of fate.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Ge Fei Author · Chinese · 1964

Ge Fei, whose real name is Liu Yong, was born in Dantu, Jiangsu, in 1964. He is one of the representative writers of China's avant-garde literature and currently a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University. His writing emerged in the avant-garde wave of the 1980s, and he is known for narrative experimentation, labyrinthine treatments of time, and the uncertainty of memory, which give him a distinctive place in contemporary Chinese literature. His representative works include Brown Birds, Renmian Taohua (Peach Blossom Paradise), Shanhe Ru Meng (Mountains and Rivers Dreaming), Chun Jin Jiangnan (Spring Ends in Jiangnan), and Wang Chunfeng (Looking at the Spring Breeze). His Jiangnan Trilogy traces a century of family fate as a reflection of social change. He has received the Lu Xun Literary Prize, the Lao She Literary Award, and the ninth Mao Dun Literature Prize. Thirteen of his works are included in the collection, spanning classic works, social novels, and prose, showing that his writing crosses fiction and essays and combines avant-garde sensibility with realistic concern.