Writing
Toson's The Broken Commandment was completed under impecunious circumstances. After the idea of the novel was formulated, Toson approached his father-in-law, Hata Keiji, and a wealthy landlord, Kozu Takeshi, asking for their support in his full-time writing of the novel. They agreed, and Toson quit his job as a teacher. With his pregnant wife and three daughters Toson left Komoro and moved to Minami Toshima-gun in Tokyo to complete his work. His three daughters died one after another, from meningitis and intestinal catarrh, and Toson came to regard their deaths as "sacrifices" − their deaths were most likely triggered by malnutrition which deprived them from "maintaining adequate physical resistance to the fatal diseases because of the tightly budgeted life Toson subjected his family to".
Read more about this topic: The Broken Commandment
Famous quotes containing the word writing:
“It is wrong to be harsh with the New York critics, unless one admits in the same breath that it is a condition of their existence that they should write entertainingly about something which is rarely worth writing about at all.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“I don’t really think that writers, even great writers, are prophets, or sages, or Messiah-like figures; writing is a lonely, sedentary occupation and a touch of megalomania can be comforting around five on a November afternoon when you haven’t seen anybody all day.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)