A city without the sun - A city without the sun

A full-length novel by Tokunaga Sunao. It was serialized in the magazine Senki from June to September 1929 (Showa 4) and in November. It was published by Senkisha in December of the same year. The subject of the work is the great dispute at Kyodo Printing in 1926 (Taisho 15), which Tokunaga experienced. The story revolves around the company's efforts to disrupt the labor union at Daido Printing, a company with 3,000 employees, and the union's strike struggle, and focuses on the impoverished lives of the workers who live in "Tokyo's most slum-like tunnel tenements" at the bottom of Koishikawa Valley, or "a town without sun." It also portrays in three dimensions the various personalities of the workers, including Hagimura, a leading figure in the struggle, his friend Miyaji, Takaeda from the women's division, and her sister Kayo, as well as the schemes of the capitalists. Although the main characters are stereotypical and the story has some weaknesses, the descriptions and plot development, supported by the author's real-life experiences, fully achieved the primary goal of having fellow workers read the book, and it became a monumental work of Japanese proletarian literature alongside Takiji Kobayashi's "The Crab Cannery Ship" (1929). It was later adapted for the stage and film.

[Hiroshi Otsuka]

"A City Without the Sun" (Shincho Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

徳永直(すなお)の長編小説。1929年（昭和4）6～9月、11月雑誌『戦旗』に連載。同年12月、戦旗社刊。作品の題材は、徳永が体験した1926年（大正15）の共同印刷の大争議である。従業員3000名をもつ大同印刷の、会社側の労働組合破壊活動と組合側のストライキ闘争を主軸に、小石川の谷底の「東京随一の貧民窟(ひんみんくつ)トンネル長屋」すなわち「太陽のない街」に住む労働者たちの窮迫した生活に焦点をあて、また、闘争の指導的分子萩村(はぎむら)、友人の宮地、婦人部の高枝、その妹の加代ら労働者のさまざまな姿と、資本家側の策謀を立体的に描いている。主要人物たちが類型的で造形不足などの弱点はあるが、作者の実体験に支えられた描写とプロットの展開は、労働者仲間に読んでもらうことを第一の目的とした意図を十分果たしており、小林多喜二(たきじ)の『蟹工船(かにこうせん)』（1929）と並んで日本プロレタリア文学の記念碑的作品となった。のちに舞台化、映画化もされている。

［大塚　博］

『『太陽のない街』（新潮文庫）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例