The Silent Cry by Kenzaburō Ōe

Author:Kenzaburō Ōe
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Literary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780802190277
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2016-09-19T23:00:00+00:00

Truth Unspeakable

AS Takashi and Hoshio came into the storehouse carrying the oil stove, which was totally enclosed and remote in color from any associations of warmth, I saw powdery snow, dry and hard like sand, lying on their shoulders. My wife and Momoko, excited by the snow, were late with the evening meal. By the time I went over to the main building for dinner, the front garden was already covered. So far, however, it was no more than a fragile, impermanent-looking layer. The driving snow and darkness blocked my poor vision so impenetrably that when I looked up and took the elements full in my face I seemed to be drifting in a boat on a sea of falling snow, and it was difficult to keep my balance. Fine, powdery flakes stung my eyes to mechanical tears. I seemed to remember that in the old days snow in the valley had always come in damp flakes as big as the ball of one’s thumb. I sorted through various memories associated with snow, but my recollection of it in the valley was blurred, buried beneath a host of memories from the towns I’d lived in. Either way, the powdery snow I felt against my skin at that moment was as remote as any that had fallen on those alien towns. I kicked aside the settled flakes with a fine carelessness as I walked. In my childhood, I’d always rushed eagerly to devour a handful of the first snow to fall in the valley; it seemed to taste of all the minerals in the atmosphere, from the heights of the sky overlying the valley right down to the earth that I trod. Takashi and the others had left the door open, and in the faint light of the lamp that hung from the eaves were watching the white flakes streaking the darkness. They were all beginning to get drunk on the snow; but I was sober.

“How’s the oil stove?” my wife asked. “There weren’t any in a color that would have looked better in the storehouse.” Though she might be drunk with snow, she hadn’t yet started on the whisky tonight.

“I’m not taking up permanent residence there. I’d leave tomorrow if only the snow would let up, so there won’t be time to worry whether the stove matches the room or not.”

“Taka,” she said, turning to my brother since I showed so little interest, “don’t you think it’s odd that they should bring imported stoves from Scandinavia all the way to a place like this?”

“By displaying goods that no one here could ever hope to buy, the Emperor’s thumbing his nose at the whole village,” said Takashi.

It occurred to me that Takashi could use that kind of theory to incite the young members of his football team, but I didn’t pursue the idea. I’d lost my enthusiasm for thinking about relations between Takashi and the valley. I ate in silence, as though I weren’t really there by the open fireplace at all.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.