Pathway to Japanese Literature
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The Devil's MomentAuthor: Hara Tamiki
| Original Title | 魔のひととき |
|---|---|
| Author | 原 民喜 |
| Genre | War & Social Literature |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a fragile glass-walled room, a man awakens to dawn’s chill and the convulsions of his own body—a cough that wracks his emaciated frame, blurring the line between tears and the blurred hydrangeas outside. Hunger gnaws at him, as does the landlady’s icy disdain, her surveillance seeping through the thin walls of his claustrophobic cubicle. Tokyo’s ruins stretch beyond his window, a scorched landscape mirroring his inner desolation: memories of Hiroshima’s ashes, a lover lost to illness, and the spectral weight of survival. \nHe drifts through days as a night-school teacher, ghostlike among crowds, his rubber-soled shoes unsteady on war-torn streets. Visions flicker—a crystalline spring, a woman’s face shimmering in distant clouds—hinting at solace just beyond reach. Yet reality claws back: the creak of a hand pump shatters fragile peace; students’ indifferent eyes reflect his unraveling. Every breath is measured, every step haunted by the fear of collapse. In this limbo between fading hope and relentless decay, he clings to air itself—transparent, infinite—as if it alone tethers him to a world where beauty and cruelty bleed together. |
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