Shōhei Ōoka
Paperback | Pages: 246 pages Rating: 3.97 | 1102 Users | 107 Reviews
Identify Books Supposing Fires on the Plain
| Original Title: | 野火 [Nobi] |
| ISBN: | 0804813795 (ISBN13: 9780804813792) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Yomiuri Prize 読売文学賞 for Fiction (1951) |
Explanation In Pursuance Of Books Fires on the Plain
"Written with precise skill and beautifully controlled power. The translation by Ivan Morris is outstanding." —The New York Times**Winner of the 1952 Yomiuri Prize**
This haunting novel explores the complete degradation and isolation of a man by war. Fires on the Plain is set on the island of Leyte in the Philippines during World War II, where the Japanese army is disintegrating under the hammer blows of the American landings. Within this broader disintegration is another, that of a single human being, Private Tamura. The war destroys each of his ties to society, one by one, until Tamura, a sensitive and intelligent man, becomes an outcast.
Nearly losing the will to survive, he hears of a port still in Japanese hands and struggles to walk through the American lines. Unfazed by danger, he welcomes the prospect of dying, but first, he loses his hope, and then his sanity. Lost among his hallucinations, Tamura comes to fancy himself an angel enjoined by God to eat no living thing—but even angels fall.
Tamura is never less than human, even when driven to the ultimate sin against humanity. Shocking as the outward events are, the greatness of the novel lies in its uplifting vision during a time of crushing horror. As relevant today as when it was originally published, Fires on the Plain will strike a chord with anyone who has lived through the horrors of war.
Particularize Epithetical Books Fires on the Plain
| Title | : | Fires on the Plain |
| Author | : | Shōhei Ōoka |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 246 pages |
| Published | : | 2001 by Tuttle Publishing (first published 1951) |
| Categories | : | Cultural. Japan. Asian Literature. Japanese Literature. Fiction. War. Historical. Historical Fiction. Classics |
Rating Epithetical Books Fires on the Plain
Ratings: 3.97 From 1102 Users | 107 ReviewsEvaluation Epithetical Books Fires on the Plain
You will feel as if you yourself are straying in the tropical thick forest with a young Japanese soldier in the WWII.For Private Tamura, the narrator and protagonist of this novel, the story starts with being yelled at and slapped in the face by his commanding officer. He is also deadly sick with consumption, stuck on an island far away from home, part of an army that has already lost the war, surrounded by hostile local guerillas that intend to do unspeakable things to him and his comrades, and is under constant attack from an enemy air force that is superior in both resources and firepower. What makes all
This edition started with a lengthy introduction by the translator, Ivan Morris, which revealed much of the story's content. I recommend not reading the introduction until after reading the book. Morris does do a good review of the meanings behind the images presented in the story. I do recommend reading the intoduction... after the story though..The story sets the reader between the two pincers of God and man. As the story is narrated, Private Tamura is constantly brought closer and closer to
It is a marvel how our intuition leads us to engage in the process of transmuting our own internal strife through experiencing similar circumstances in our external world. I have now just read two books in succession dealing with starvation and the tenuous hold on reality the mind goes through when the body is deprived. "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun and this book, "Fires on the Plain" by Shohei Ooka. So what, as a conscious person would ask, is in my own life "starving"?Ooka's book is a terrible
I have mixed feeling about this book. The H-Net review of David Stahl's book that analyzes the writings of Shohei Ooka increased my appreciation of the "Fires on the Plain." (http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev....). I did not connect Tamura's amnesia with an effort to conceal his actions in increasingly desperate situations. The book traces the descent of a Japanese soldier into insanity at the tail end of World War II well. As starvation sets in, soldiers contemplate actions previously
You will feel as if you yourself are straying in the tropical thick forest with a young Japanese soldier in the WWII.
A very interesting book - some passage of deep beauty, others of some obscurity. It is hard to tell what the book would be like in Japanese. I have a deep mistrust of reading anything in translation (though I am reading a great deal of translation at this point in my life).
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.