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Interview with RON WULKAN
 Why
did you write THE GOOK LOVER?
I was a 17-year-old soldier riding in a weapons carrier when the G.I.
next to me sneered and called me “Gook Lover” because I had written
my name in Katakana characters on my fatigue cap and was trying to
learn the language. I was too dumb-young to realize it, but I was
trying to solve the Japanese puzzle. Were they the bright, polite,
submissive people that I had met or the Yankee-hating, sadistic
fiends of war propaganda? The answer, I found, is they are like the
rest of us: decent human beings who can be led astray by arrogant
leadership and falsehoods.
Why the unique but off-putting title?
I had no choice. Curses reveal a society’s attitudes and prejudices.
I can swear in seven or eight languages and find it remarkable how
each culture shows its hatreds. Perhaps we are hardwired with the
survival trait to distrust others. Maybe tribalism is in our
mother’s milk. But I’d like to think not as I await the second Age
of Enlightenment.
 You
treat so many different groups harshly. Is there a reason?
Certainly. The military is an honorable profession and national self
defense is a necessity. But armed aggression against defenseless
civilians is both unforgivable and counterproductive. The mission is
to hit the evil guys without hurting the innocent. Bad governance is
a civic sin that costs dearly in blood and treasure. Greedy war
profiteers deserve our scorn. And the smug Detroit car makers’
myopic decisions of yesteryear cost tens of thousands of worthy
workers their livelihoods. Let’s see, who have I missed? Oh, yes,
novelists who are powerless to improve what philosophers call the
‘Human Condition.’ We all share responsibility for humankind’s flaws
and blunders.
Why does your novel start with the Rape of Nanking?
When I was an MP desk sergeant, I worked with Japanese police
veterans of Nanking and overheard stories. When the Nanking atrocity
photos were released, it was an unforgettable shock and I was
compelled to write about it. The story of Nanking war crimes
controlled me, not the other way around. The late Iris Chang
 told
me that her hair fell out as she researched and wrote her
non-fiction best seller, The Rape of Nanking. And I told her how my
wife would always know when I was ‘thinking Nanking’ just by looking
at me. It’s tough to grapple with the reality that man can be a wolf
to man.
How many of the bizarre incidents in THE GOOK LOVER are real?
Sad to say, the war crimes happened. Actually, I had to tone down
the horrors in my rewrites because the facts are so awful and
damning.
Given the many war crimes and atrocities since Nanking and the
Holocaust, are you pessimistic about the future?
Optimism is humanity’s necessity. We can’t afford the luxury of
pessimism as we keep trying to make a better world for all.
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