Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
← Back
| Original Title | 生きている戦死者 |
|---|---|
| Author | 牧 逸馬 |
| Genre | War & Social Literature |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In 1912 Hungary, Bela Kiss and his young wife Norma settle in the idyllic town of Czinkota, their tranquil life masking undercurrents of obsession. Bela, a brooding factory owner with a fascination for mysticism, spirals into reclusive despair after Norma vanishes with her lover. As World War I erupts, he enlists, fortifying his vacant home with iron bars and cryptic metal drums—claimed to hold gasoline—before departing. Years later, wartime oil shortages prompt authorities to inspect his sealed estate. Behind barred windows lie seven drums, each harboring a woman’s alcohol-preserved corpse, strangled and stripped of valuables. Investigations reveal a trail of missing women lured by matrimonial ads and fortune-telling schemes. Though officially declared dead in combat, whispers emerge of a stolen identity—a dying soldier’s documents swapped to conceal Bela’s escape. Across Europe, detectives hunt a phantom killer whose genteel facade hid monstrous depths, leaving a legacy of terror as elusive as the man himself. |
← Return to List← Return to TOP