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白痴 [Hakuchi]
昭和初期に活躍した「無頼派」の代表的作家である坂口安吾の小説。初出は「新潮」［1946（昭和２１）年］。映画会社に務める伊沢は、豚と家鴨が同居する珍妙な下宿に住んでいる。そのとなりに住む白痴の女が突如部屋に現れたことから、彼の生活が変った。戦時下の異様な時間間隔と、立ち上る身体性をセンセーショナルに描き、文壇だけでなく終戦直後に多くの人から注目を集めた。
232 pages, Paperback Bunko
First published January 1, 1946
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134 people want to read
About the author
Ango Sakaguchi
617 books139 followersFrom Niigata, Sakaguchi (坂口安吾) was one of a group of young Japanese writers to rise to prominence in the years immediately following Japan's defeat in World War II. In 1946 he wrote his most famous essay, titled "Darakuron" ("On Decadence"), which examined the role of bushido during the war. It is widely argued that he saw postwar Japan as decadent, yet more truthful than a wartime Japan built on illusions like bushido.
Ango was born in 1906, and was the 12th child of 13. He was born in the middle of a Japan perpetually at war. His father was the president of the Niigata Shinbun (Newspaper), a politician, and a poet.
Ango wanted to be a writer at 16. He moved to Tokyo at 17, after hitting a teacher who caught him truanting. His father died from brain cancer the following year, leaving his family in massive debt. At 20, Ango taught for a year as a substitute teacher following secondary school. He became heavily involved in Buddhism and went to University to study Indian philosophy, graduating at the age of 25. Throughout his career as a student, Ango was very vocal in his opinions.
He wrote various works of literature after graduating, receiving praise from writers such as Makino Shin’ichi. His literary career started around the same time as Japan’s expansion into Manchuria. He met his wife to be, Yada Tsuseko, at 27. His mother died when he was 37, in the middle of World War II. He struggled for recognition as a writer for years before finally finding it with “A Personal View of Japanese Culture” in 1942, and again with “On Decadence” in 1946. That same year, the Emperor formally declared himself a human being, not a god. Ango had a child at 48 with his second wife, Kaji Michio. He died from a brain aneurysm at age 48 in 1955.
Ango was born in 1906, and was the 12th child of 13. He was born in the middle of a Japan perpetually at war. His father was the president of the Niigata Shinbun (Newspaper), a politician, and a poet.
Ango wanted to be a writer at 16. He moved to Tokyo at 17, after hitting a teacher who caught him truanting. His father died from brain cancer the following year, leaving his family in massive debt. At 20, Ango taught for a year as a substitute teacher following secondary school. He became heavily involved in Buddhism and went to University to study Indian philosophy, graduating at the age of 25. Throughout his career as a student, Ango was very vocal in his opinions.
He wrote various works of literature after graduating, receiving praise from writers such as Makino Shin’ichi. His literary career started around the same time as Japan’s expansion into Manchuria. He met his wife to be, Yada Tsuseko, at 27. His mother died when he was 37, in the middle of World War II. He struggled for recognition as a writer for years before finally finding it with “A Personal View of Japanese Culture” in 1942, and again with “On Decadence” in 1946. That same year, the Emperor formally declared himself a human being, not a god. Ango had a child at 48 with his second wife, Kaji Michio. He died from a brain aneurysm at age 48 in 1955.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 3, 2022
i don’t know if this was planned or supposed to happen and maybe i’m just delusional but “the idiot” by sakaguchi ango really did remind me a little bit of “the idiot” by fyodor dostoyevsky
November 23, 2025
Esta bien.
January 13, 2025
Novela cortita en una edición muy cuidada de Satori, que a mí me ha parecido tremenda, potente.
Muestra lo inhumano y absurdo de la guerra. La lectura es una sucesión de imágenes que podrían ser cuadros de Munch. Sentimientos deformados; relaciones reducidas a sus instintos y miserias más fundamentales; gente, como la idiota, degradada a ser animal.
Y, sin embargo, de fondo, el deseo de supervivencia, la necesidad de lo cotidiano.
Muestra lo inhumano y absurdo de la guerra. La lectura es una sucesión de imágenes que podrían ser cuadros de Munch. Sentimientos deformados; relaciones reducidas a sus instintos y miserias más fundamentales; gente, como la idiota, degradada a ser animal.
Y, sin embargo, de fondo, el deseo de supervivencia, la necesidad de lo cotidiano.
July 12, 2025
La historia tiene lugar en el Japón de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Pero esta no es una novela sobre la guerra, sino sobre el vacío existencial que deja tras de sí. El protagonista se presenta desencantado y apático desde el primer momento. Es crítico y cínico con todo lo que le rodea: sus vecinos, su trabajo, la sociedad. Desprecia su empleo —aunque reconoce que lo necesita para subsistir— tanto como desprecia a sus compañeros y vecinas, a quienes describe con ironía y crueldad.
En este mundo absurdo y sin sentido, aparece la idiota. No sabemos su nombre, solo el apodo hiriente que él le pone. Una mujer que pasa de ser una presencia molesta a convertirse en su impulso vital, una esperanza todavía frágil, pero suficiente, para seguir latiendo.
Esa es, para mí, la parte más poderosa de la historia: esa transformación en el protagonista, que ya había renunciado a todo, y que ahora encuentra una razón —pequeña, pero real— para seguir viviendo.
Breve, pero muy potente. Sakaguchi no deja indiferente con esta obra.
En este mundo absurdo y sin sentido, aparece la idiota. No sabemos su nombre, solo el apodo hiriente que él le pone. Una mujer que pasa de ser una presencia molesta a convertirse en su impulso vital, una esperanza todavía frágil, pero suficiente, para seguir latiendo.
Esa es, para mí, la parte más poderosa de la historia: esa transformación en el protagonista, que ya había renunciado a todo, y que ahora encuentra una razón —pequeña, pero real— para seguir viviendo.
Breve, pero muy potente. Sakaguchi no deja indiferente con esta obra.
December 27, 2025
Yo solo sé que esas últimas páginas fueron muy fuertes. Haber vivido esa época de la posguerra y sus horrores claramente no fue lo mejor, y Ango plasma eso muy bien acá. Un relato cortito, pero poderoso.
December 12, 2019
Une écriture magnifique.
January 12, 2025
3'5✨ Mi vida necesita más libros cortitos como este! 🫶🏻
February 24, 2025
la idiota en realidad es la inocencia :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2021
Absolutely loved reading every page of it. Quite the interesting description of the bombings through the eyes of a confused man with a lot of inner turmoil
August 10, 2014
human events story during WW2. it grotesquely describes but can see how things are going quite clearly the appearance which is closely related to human daily belligerent life with an idiot woman and the main character Izawa. "the subject of death" is tightly focused on this story. Izawa tells how people act and think when they cant be separated from death(war). as the title, Hakuchi means an idiot it actually the character refers to the woman. thought what Ango wanted to tell through this story and when people are come up against the limits of death of war, all and everything are in disarray, they mechanically behave in a bizarre manner when they are incomprehensible under normal circumstances. Izawa often fights against his moral and ethical responsibility while spending considerable time with Hakuchi. battle poverty, hunger, fearfulness, and Izawa even prompts visionary experiences and again fights against his conceptual, chronicle, and creative dilemma. the most impressive content in the story was how Izawa think and take care of Hakuchi, when they were bombed out and the paragraph were very virtually imaginable.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews