俘虜記

by Shōhei Ōoka

著者の太平洋戦争従軍体験に基づく連作小説。冒頭の「捉まるまで」の、なぜ自分は米兵を殺さなかったかという感情の、異常に平静かつ精密な分析と、続編の俘虜収容所を戦後における日本社会の縮図とみた文明批評からなる。乾いた明晰さをもつ文体を用い、孤独という真空状態における人間のエゴティスムを凝視した点で、いわゆる戦争小説とは根本的に異なる作品である。横光利一賞受賞。

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Shōhei Ōoka (Ōoka Shōhei / 大岡 昇平) was a Japanese novelist, literary critic, and translator of French literature active in Shōwa period Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University in 1932 and majored in French literature, publishing a series of essays on Stendhal and translating some of the French writer's novels. Called to arms in 1944 he was sent to the Philippines where he was taken prisoner by the Americans. During that time he set out to write a series of fiction and nonfiction works focusing on the condition of captivity. Indeed, Ōoka belongs to the group of postwar writers whose World War II experiences at home and abroad figure prominently in their works. Over his lifetime, he contributed short stories and critical essays to almost every literary magazine in Japan. His most important texts are: Ikite Iru Horyo ("Prisoners Alive"), 1949, Tsuma ("Wife"), 1950, Nobi ("Soldier Tamura's War"), 1950. The latter was awarded the Yokomitsu Prize, Japan's most important literary attestation, and the Yomiuri Prize. He resided extensively in Europe and the United States and taught at Japan's Meiji University.