Villon’s Wife (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Shūji Tsushima
- First Published: 1947
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1946
- Setting: Tokyo
- Principal Characters: Mrs. Otani, Mr. Otani, The restaurant owner, The owner's wife
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Values, Husbands, Wives, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Rape, Substance abuse, Survivalism, Idealism, Theft, Japan or Japanese people, Realism
- Locales: Tokyo, Japan
The Story
“Villon's Wife,” set in the dark years of the early postwar era, is narrated by the wife of a writer who has been much celebrated but who has given himself over to drunkenness and debauchery. The story opens late on a winter night as the woman, asleep with her retarded son, hears her husband come home, drunk as usual. With uncharacteristic tenderness the husband asks if the child still has a fever. At this point a man and woman arrive at the front door and call for the writer, Mr. Otani. An argument ensues and the wife tries to intervene, but Otani pulls a knife...
[The entire page is 1319 words long]
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