revolutionary whose true identity is masked. After his capture，he is visited by Montanelli，now a cardinal(红衣主教)，who offers him a lifeline. But Arthur，unforgiving and uncompromising，demands that his father reject the church. Montanelli refuses and condemns his son to death. Arthur，now a Christ-like figure，commands his own death penalty. At the Corpus Christi mass，Montanelli dies of a broken heart.

__①__. The novel gained popularity initially in Ireland. Yet it was in the newly-created Communist states of the Soviet Union and China that the book found its most dedicated readership. Arthur，a Romantic tragic hero，was repeatedly voted Russia's most popular literary figure，and astronauts Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova，the first man and woman in space，credited its influence.

__②__. In the 1930s，The Gadfly inspired another bestseller. Nikolai Ostrovsky's How the Steel Was Tempered sold 35 million copies in the Soviet Union. Ostrovsky's socialist realist novel features a fearless young communist who suffers dreadfully for his sacrifices，but finds permanent strength in the example of The Gadfly，which he reads to his fellow comrades. Voynich's novel was reinforced further by a 1955 film adaptation directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer. It sold 39 million tickets.

__④__. Arthur offers a "careful balance of emotion with steely determination" -he is a lover and a fighter，which can be seen in the "knight-errant" (侠客) of traditional Chinese folklore.

In the UK，The Gadfly remains out of print and almost unknown，yet around the world readers and writers still revere its author，just as DH Lawrence，Rebecca West and Friedrich Engels once did. With its rich religious imagery and stirring revolutionary themes，The Gadfly has a lasting appeal for lovers of historical fiction，and deserves to be rediscovered in its original language.