INTERVIEW/When 'Plum Rain' falls: A German novelist's love letter to Taiwan

By Chao Yen-hsiang, CNA staff writer

"I would say 'Plum Rain' ('Pflaumenregen') is my love letter to Taiwan," said German novelist Stephan Thome, whose works have been shortlisted for the German Book Prize three times.

In early May, four years after its German text was published, the Chinese translation of his epic novel finally hit the Taiwan market -- just as the eponymous rainy season arrived.

The fiction details the fate of a Keelung-based family that stretches four generations from Japan's colonial period to the 2010s, with the family's trauma rooted in the White Terror era lying at its center.

In a recent interview with CNA, however, Thome said his brainchild did not come from his erudition about the island, but from his love for its land.

The start of 'Rain'

"Some people write in order to promote their ideas, but I write because I have questions," said Thome.

Recalling his major muse for "Plum Rain," Thome said it was a trip to Jinguashi in northern Taiwan around 2018.

"Only then did I learn Taiwan's connection with the Pacific War during World War II. I felt surprised and a little ashamed ... because I thought I had known Taiwan's history well."

A husband to a Taiwanese wife who first set foot in Taiwan in 1996, Thome said that experience gave him a more concrete idea about his work in progress, which evolved from just the female protagonist, Umeko Lee, and her son to its present form.

Other major changes included the complication of its narratives, which were greatly revised from a first-person narrative to a third-person one in a bid to piece together a past that remains largely unspoken and off the record, he said.

The White Terror era refers to a period of the Kuomintang (KMT) government's crackdown from the late 1940s to the late 1980s, after it withdrew to Taiwan at the tail end of the Chinese Civil War.

At that time, tens of thousands of people were arrested, imprisoned, or executed on suspicion of opposing the regime, many without due process.

Whereas in Germany, people from the younger generation tended to urge the older one to talk about what they have done under Hitler and the Nazis, Thome said he found Taiwanese victims of the White Terror era inclined to remain silent.

"That [victims'] sense of shame is part of what I tried to grasp in the novel," Thome said.

Cross-over identity

Baseball and love are two major motifs that thread "Plum Rain" together, but Thome said the struggle for identity is the issue he has been exploring since his debut novel, "Grenzgang" ("Borderwalk").

Raised in West Germany during the Cold War, Thome said he had no identity issues himself, which made him particularly interested in how people grapple with identity after major transitions.

"My grandfather was born in 1901 and experienced four to five political regimes during his lifetime, but at least he always spoke German," Thome said, noting that Taiwan's historical transitions were more complex because each regime used a different language.

That paradigm shift is echoed in Umeko's identity throughout the novel, Thome said.

"At the beginning, she wants to become Japanese, then she is taught and required to be Chinese, but in the end, she thinks she can also be Taiwanese."

The same issue hovers over nearly all major characters in the story: a Taiwan-born Japanese woman feels homesick for the island after returning to Japan; Lee's son sees Taiwan as his second home after spending more time in the United States; her grandson can barely speak Chinese and considers living in Taiwan for a year or so.

Identity, according to Thome, is "something that hinges on both what you can and cannot control."

"On the one hand, I cannot decide my race, parents, or height; on the other hand, I can choose my vocation and what kind of person I want to be. [That tension in between] is what interests me," he said.

Know thyself

Now spending most of his time in Taiwan, Thome said it was demanding to prepare for writing about a context as unfamiliar to him as Taiwan's history. However, Thome said, the effort is well worth it.

In his opinion, Taiwanese people will likewise benefit from learning more about their own country's history and the threats it faces.

He cited a remark by Taiwan's former Chief of the General Staff Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), who in a talk with him described Taiwanese people's attitude in the face of China as "unreasonably optimistic."

Thome warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) holds a different attitude toward cross-strait unification than his predecessors, who did not think it would occur during their presidencies.

"Xi Jinping's ambition is to become the greatest leader in modern China, and the only way to do so is to annex Taiwan."

In response to that menace, Thome said he believes consolidation within the country will help deter Beijing, letting it realize that "Taiwanese people will by no means surrender."

"Perhaps when we look back in 2027, we'll think this year is a watershed moment," Thome said, calling on the public to act soon.

"If that is the case, what are you doing now?"

Enditem/ASG