Ever since the release of fisherman writer Liao Hung-chi's latest book Living Off the Sea, many critics have been calling the book the starting point for a Taiwanese literature of the ocean. More than a few people have compared the book to Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. What kind of new vision has Living Off the Sea actually brought us?

"A school of these fish is like a starving pack of wolves. When the decoy bait is towed around them by a fishing boat, the leader will take the initiative to bite. If the boat stops or slows down, the struggle will warn the other fish not to come near. So, at the moment when the leader bites into the bait, the boat must speed up, making it look like the fish is chasing the bait. Then, all the other fish will blindly follow, just like a pack of hungry wolves." This passage from Liao Hung-chi's fictional work "The Changing Changes of March" vividly describes catching ennaho fish. Not only does it paint a portrait of the behavior of these fish, it also depicts the experience of fishermen making their living from the sea.

Last year, Liao Hung-chi won the critics' award in a China Times essay contest with "Ocean Sunfish." This year, with "The Changing Changes of March," he won the Wu Chuo-liu Literary Award's grand prize for fiction. From his experience as a man who makes his living on the sea, Liao writes about the ocean and the nature of fish, and through the character of Uncle Haiyung, he has carved out an image of the seafarer's experience.

For Taiwan, which is completely surrounded by sea water, "this kind of work has been too late in arriving," remarks literary critic Peng Jui-chin.

The ocean produced from study

What is so-called ocean literature? In Peng Jui-chin's opinion, "It should be literature founded on the fact that the sea plays an important part in life." Countries which border on the ocean, such as Iceland and Britain, have naturally nourished some outstanding "ocean writers." However, in Taiwan, children have been taught to "get away from the sea" since very young. Without an ocean-oriented education or a lifestyle that's built on love for the sea, it is only natural that no one in Taiwan has ever composed in-depth ocean literature.

Writers of ocean literature don't necessarily have to be sailors or fishermen. However, in Taiwan, those two are the only ones who bear a relation to the sea. Nevertheless, fishermen rarely feel the urge to write, while works about the ocean by men of letters are mostly expression of sentiments, glorification or imagination. Those works written with the writers' feet firmly on land are not part of genuine ocean literature. In comparison, "Liao Hung-chi's ocean is authentic, born out of life and rich with life," notes Liu Fu-shih, writer and fellow resident of Hualien, pointing out why Living off the Sea has attracted so much attention.

"Ah! what a gigantic fish, flopping around on the side of the boat. . . ." "After picking up the iron harpoon, he thrusts it straight into the head of the fish...." "The line flies with such force, there is simply no stopping it. . . ." The gestures, movements and tones are all very authentic.

"Captain Black Dragon," who has 17 years of experience fishing, praises Liao Hung-chi, because through special dialect and little gestures, he has created such an in-depth description of fishermen's concerns and expectations.

Uncle Haiyung and the Old Man

Hooks sink in the water like question marks hung upside down. The answers to them lie anywhere between zero and infinity. Sometimes, even the question marks cannot be taken back. The result is something no one can predict when laying a bait or spreading a net. Therefore, fishermen have to learn to accept their fate. They do not dominate their domain, so they must learn to wait, while hope turns to bubbles, then despair. They may even learn to accept the ecstasy, which is sometimes too heavy to bear. To Liao Hung-chi, experienced fishermen have not only taught him how to fish, they have also given him the wisdom to co-exist with the sea.

In Living Off the Sea, Liao treats Uncle Haiyung as the embodiment of his heartfelt image of the fisherman. Uncle Haiyung dares to go out to sea in fickle March; he knows how to look for fishing grounds, and he knows how to lure ennaho to the hook. However, when the ennaho put up a struggle, causing the fishing line to cut into the hands of the novice fisherman, Uncle Haiyung cuts off the lines without the slightest hesitation, letting the fish flee back to the ocean. "We humans are not qualified to fight with the ocean," says Uncle Haiyung.

Peng Jui-chin holds that the Uncle Haiyung created by Liao Hung-chi is an old fisherman fully familiar with maritime operations, and the epitome of Taiwanese fishermen. He is somewhat different from the main character in The Old Man and the Sea, who is portrayed as a hero. The Old Man and the Sea is a literary piece about pursuing a goal with determination, which uses the ocean as a background. But Living Off the Sea is a literary work which has its root in ocean culture."

Before Liao Hung-chi wrote his book, he had never read The Old Man and the Sea or Moby Dick. Taiwanese live on an island, but most of them fear the sea. Liao hopes that through his words, people on the land can understand the people on the sea and all that the ocean is about.

"At one time, the ocean sent the fish as angels to draw me closer. Now, I hope to be an ocean angel, attracting more people to return to the embrace of the sea," says Liao Hung-chi.