Soldiers AliveWhen the editors of Chûô kôron, Japan's leading liberal magazine, sent the prizewinning young novelist Ishikawa Tatsuzô to war-ravaged China in early 1938, they knew the independent-minded writer would produce a work wholly different from the lyrical and sanitized war reports then in circulation. They could not predict, however, that Ishikawa would write an unsettling novella so grimly realistic it would promptly be banned and lead to the author’s conviction on charges of "disturbing peace and order." Decades later, Soldiers Alive remains a deeply disturbing and eye-opening account of the Japanese march on Nanking and its aftermath. In its unforgettable depiction of an ostensibly altruistic war’s devastating effects on the soldiers who fought it and the civilians they presumed to "liberate," Ishikawa’s work retains its power to shock, inform, and provoke. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
arms army priest Katayama attack battle battlefield began bones bungaku canteen Ch'ang-shu China Chinese soldiers cigarette Class Private Hirao Class Private Kondō company commander comrades Corporal Kasahara corpses Culture dark Dazai Osamu dead Donald Keene enemy soldiers enemy trench face feel felt fighting fire front gate grenades hand Hawai'i Press Hayashi Fumiko head heitai Hino Ashihei Hsia-kuan Ibid Imperial interpreter Nakahashi Ishikawa Jun Ishikawa Tatsuzō Japanese Japanese Literature killed Kitajima Kobayashi Hideo Kodansha Kondo ku-niang Kuroshima Denji literary Literature lives looked machine gun military Modern Japan morning Mount Tzu-chin Nanking nation nese night Nihon Nishizawa Regiment Niwa Fumio Oguma Hideo peace pillboxes Princeton regimental commander replied rice rifle Rising Sun flag Second Lieutenant Kurata seemed Sensō Shanghai Shobō Sino-Japanese smoke Soldiers Alive stood suddenly sword Tientsin Tokyo Trans troops units University Press woman wounded writers Wu-hsi Wuhan York Yoshikawa Eiji