Solitude

The Japanese writer, translator, critic, and public figure Abe Tomoji began his writing career as a modernist. His professional debut was the short story “Japanese-German Sports Games.” Later, the novel “Winter Shelter” was published, achieving great success and becoming the foundation for his postwar works, which took on a humanistic and socially critical character. Abe was convinced that literature and writers should be useful to society and stimulate its progress.

In the essay “Loneliness,” you’ll find a story about a person experiencing a loneliness unmatched by anything else, because he does not know his roots—his beginning—and therefore lacks the ability to follow the path meant precisely for him. For the Path is universal—the Path of the Universe. And it is unique—each person has their own. “And until I learn who passed me part of their blood… then the world has no center for me: it is like a paper kite with a torn string.”