The age of harassment - The age of harassment

Japanese: 厭がらせの年齢 - いやがらせのねんれい

A short story by Niwa Fumio (1904-). Published in Kaizo in 1947 (Showa 22). It depicts, with ruthless, realistic style, the 86-year-old old woman Ume, who has become a monster whose only purpose in life is to harass people. Her inhuman appearance in the midst of her impoverished postwar life makes the ugly, unknowable aging all the more apparent, and the story exudes a wry humor that makes readers smile, making it one of the postwar masterpieces. From his earliest works, this author wrote works about his biological mother who left home, known as "mother stories."

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

丹羽文雄(1904‐　)の短編小説。1947年(昭和22)《改造》に発表。86歳の老女うめの，いやがらせをすることだけが生きていることのすべてになってしまった化物のような姿を非情な，リアルな筆致で描く。戦後の困窮生活のなかでの人間ばなれした姿だけに，いっそう持てあましものの老醜が浮き出ており，一面，苦笑をさそうユーモアをもただよわせて戦後の一傑作とされた。この作家には最初期から〈生母もの〉と呼ばれる，家を出た実母を取り扱った作品がある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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