Fires on the Plain (Tuttle Classics)

About “Fires on the Plain (Tuttle Classics)”

This haunting novel explores the complete degradation and isolation of a man by war. Set on the island of Leyte in the Philippines during World War II, the story follows Private Tamura, a sensitive and intelligent man whose ties to society are gradually destroyed by the war. As the Japanese army disintegrates under American forces, Tamura becomes an outcast. He loses his will to survive and hears of a port still in Japanese hands. He struggles to cross American lines, facing danger without fear. He loses his hope and then his sanity. Amid hallucinations, he imagines himself an angel commanded by God to eat no living thing. The novel ends with his descent into madness. It is a 1951 novel.