Pathway to Japanese Literature
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With ChildrenAuthor: Kasai Zenzō
| Original Title | 子をつれて |
|---|---|
| Author | 葛西 善蔵 |
| Genre | War & Social Literature |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a sweltering Tokyo summer, a destitute father teeters on the edge of collapse. Harassed by Sanbyaku, a merciless rent collector demanding immediate eviction, he scrambles to delay homelessness while awaiting his wife’s return from a desperate quest for funds. His children watch silently as their world unravels—futons sold, meals dwindling, mornings marked by creditors’ knocks. Once-reliable friends now scorn him as a “contagion,” leaving only K, a weary novelist, offering meager loans laced with grim parables about societal witches ensnaring the poor. \nThe man’s fragile hope clings to morning glories he tends—vines strangling a cemetery fence, all leaves and no blooms. They mirror his life: relentless effort yielding only decay. A policeman from his past offers cold pragmatism instead of aid, while a dented tea tin becomes a cruel symbol of his humiliation. As deadlines loom, he numbs himself with sake, dragging his children through neon-lit streets, seeking shelter in boarding houses that shutter their doors. \nHaunted by visions of his family’s descent into deeper ruin, he grapples with a question that chills him: Is survival possible when even compassion has a price? |
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