Ishiguro’s Bombed Mary： Representation of Hibakusha in ‘A Strange and Sometimes Sadness’

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  • イシグロの描いた被爆マリア 『不思議なときおりの悲しみ』における被爆者の表象
  • イシグロ ノ エガイタ ヒバク マリア 『 フシギ ナ トキオリ ノ カナシミ 』 ニ オケル ヒバクシャ ノ ヒョウショウ

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Abstract

Kazuo Ishiguro’ s first short novel, ‘A Strange and Sometimes Sadness’（ 1980）, is a story about Nagasaki and the atomic bomb victims, as is also more well-known A Pale View of Hills. This novel tells the story of a young student, Michiko, and her childhood friend, Yasuko. The climax of this work is a scene in which Yasuko, who will be killed by the atomic bomb on the following day, shows intense anguish on her face in the middle of a conversation with Michiko, as if Yasuko were trying to reveal to her friend a sudden premonition about her own destiny. After that, Michiko doesn’ t see Yasuko any more. However, she imagines Yasuko’ s face, twisted in suffering, as an omen of her unbelievable pain and agony. In this way, Ishiguro tries to express the suffering of Hibakusha without depicting the horror of the bombing itself. Yasuko and Michiko might be in the “Shingakko”（ a school for studying theology） gardens, near Ishiguro’ s birthplace in Shin-Nakagawamachi, where the statue of Mary is looking down. Later, near the hypocenter the A-bombed statue of Mary in Urakami Cathedral was found and became a symbol of the Hibakusha in Nagasaki. Like Bombed Mary in the real Cathedral, Yasuko could be considered as representation in literature of the sufferings of A-bombed victims.

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