Translation Works
To Japanese
The 2nd Selected Works
Hell
TITLE
Hell
(Heru)
AUTHOR
Translator
ENGLISH / Evan Emswiler published
Originally Published by:
Bungei Shunju(2003)
KEY POINTS
  • Award-winning author, well-known for his science-fiction works.
  • This surrealistic depiction of Hell is both witty and humorous, and sad, and gives the reader cause for reflection.
SYNOPSIS
Fifty-seven-year old Takeshi has just gotten into a traffic accident. When he comes to, he is in a hazy bar. For some reason he is no longer crippled, as he has been for most of his life, and he can walk without crutches. Looking around, he sees a number of familiar faces. Izumi, a member of his staff who died in a plane crash five years earlier, is there. His childhood friend Yuzo is there, too – the boy who became a yakuza gangster, and got himself killed by a rival gangster. And Sasaki, who froze to death in the streets while homeless, is there; he is wearing the same suit he wore as a businessman.
Here in Hell, three days are equivalent to ten years on Earth, and one can see both the past and the future. Yuzo, for example, can see the yakuza that killed him harassing a friend. Konzo, a popular kabuki actor and a object of jealousy among fellow actors, cannot get on stage when it is his turn, try though he might, and like in a bad dream endlessly wanders a labyrinth – like the place beneath the stage, trying to find his way up. Actress Mayumi and writer Torigai, trying to shake off the paparazzi following them, hop into an elevator that drops to floor 666 beneath ground level. Nobuteru, another childhood friend of Takeshi, is still alive but is an old man who cannot even distinguish his wife from his daughter-in-law. Unfortunately he cannot join Takeshi in Hell, since people who grow old and die are not allowed here.
This surrealistic novel posits a unique and refreshing vision of Hell. Shifting between various characters' perspectives and causing the reader to reflect on his or her own life, it is both stimulating and entertaining.
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