Pathway to Japanese Literature
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A ProcessAuthor: Shimaki Kensaku
| Original Title | 一過程 |
|---|---|
| Author | 島木 健作 |
| Genre | War & Social Literature |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | On a windswept plateau, ten men lie motionless in a dim room, their bodies drained by a month-long electoral battle. Posters rustle as February’s icy gales rattle the house—a fragile shelter for their fading hopes. They await news of Shimada, their proletarian candidate trailing by 300 votes, clinging to three uncounted villages that could tip the scales. When defeat arrives, it crushes not just their campaign but fractures their unity: accusations fly between idealistic organizers and embittered locals who resent city-bred leadership. \nKoizumi, a stalwart strategist, barks orders to regroup, but fissures deepen. Sugimura, a young secretary haunted by self-doubt, confronts drunken jeers from comrades now reveling in the union’s collapse. Arrests follow—a Communist crackdown—leaving Sugimura isolated in a cell, tormented by farmers’ accusing stares. Yet fragments of resolve linger: clandestine networks survive, youths like Onishi whisper defiance, and Sugimura’s shame curdles into grim determination. The struggle, he realizes, has only mutated—a raw, unyielding force beneath the ashes of failure. |
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