{"product_id":"henri-barbusse-lenfer-jigoku-trans-komaki-omi-sojusha-1950-showa-25-5th-printing-with-obi","title":"Henri Barbusse: L'Enfer — Jigoku, Trans. Komaki Omi, Sojusha 1950 (Showa 25) with Obi","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- Author: Henri Barbusse (アンリ・バルビュス)\u003cbr\u003e- Title: 地獄 (Jigoku) — Japanese translation of \u003cem\u003eL'Enfer\u003c\/em\u003e (1908)\u003cbr\u003e- Translator: Komaki Omi (小牧近江)\u003cbr\u003e- Publisher: Sojusha (蒼樹社)\u003cbr\u003e- Year Published: 1950 (Showa 25) — 5th Printing\u003cbr\u003e- Language: Japanese\u003cbr\u003e- Format: Hardcover with dust jacket and obi, 328 pages, B6\u003cbr\u003e- Inclusions: Obi (band) present\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[OVERVIEW]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eL'Enfer\u003c\/em\u003e — published by Henri Barbusse in 1908, a decade before his Prix Goncourt-winning \u003cem\u003eLe Feu\u003c\/em\u003e — is one of the most audacious novels in the French naturalist tradition. Its unnamed narrator, installed in a cheap Parisian hotel room, discovers a crack in the wall through which he can observe, unseen, the intimate lives of the room's successive occupants: lovers, the dying, the grieving, the ecstatic. What begins as voyeurism becomes a sustained philosophical meditation on desire, mortality, and the human condition. Banned in several countries on publication, it circulated as a clandestine classic for decades before achieving its rightful place in the canon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis 1950 Sojusha edition — translated by the distinguished leftist intellectual and France-Japan cultural bridge Komaki Omi — is the first complete Japanese translation of the novel, as the obi proudly announces: \u003cem\u003eKanchu no mondai no shosetsu, Nihon-ban hajimete kannyaku naru\u003c\/em\u003e (「刷中の問题の小説、日本版初めて完訳成る」). The obi further notes that the French edition had been reprinting continuously since 1939 — a testament to the novel's enduring power. The fact that this copy is a 5th printing, achieved in rapid succession from the first edition, speaks to the hunger with which postwar Japanese readers consumed this long-forbidden text. The bold black-and-red dust jacket — with its stark typographic design — is a fine example of early 1950s Japanese book design.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[IMPORTANT NOTE FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: EASY AI TRANSLATION]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the text is printed in Japanese, you can easily read and study this historic book using modern smartphone AI tools! By taking a photo of any page with your smartphone and using free apps like Google Lens, ChatGPT, or Google Translate, the embedded AI will instantly scan and translate the text on your screen layout. Language is no longer a barrier to owning and enjoying this rare piece of international history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[WHY THIS VOLUME IS A PRIZED COLLECTOR'S ITEM]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. \u003cstrong\u003eHistorical \u0026amp; Literary Value\u003c\/strong\u003e — The first complete Japanese translation of Barbusse's scandalous masterwork, published in 1950 when Japan was rediscovering the forbidden literature of the West. Komaki Omi — who had lived in France and was a key conduit of French leftist and literary culture to Japan — was the ideal translator for this text.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. \u003cstrong\u003eVisual \u0026amp; Artistic Value\u003c\/strong\u003e — The dust jacket's bold black ground with red title panel and bilingual typography (地獄 \/ L'ENFER \/ HENRI BARBUSSE) is a striking piece of early postwar Japanese graphic design — direct, unornamented, and entirely confident.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. \u003cstrong\u003eRarity \u0026amp; Demand\u003c\/strong\u003e — The obi — which documents the translation rights, the novel's continuous French reprinting since 1939, and its status as the first complete Japanese edition — is itself a primary document. Copies with intact obi from this edition are seldom found outside Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[CONDITION]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGood Vintage Condition — With Obi\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Dust Jacket \u0026amp; Obi: Small tears to the upper and lower edges of the dust jacket. Small loss to the lower-left corner of the rear cover. Obi present and intact with full text legible. Overall the jacket retains its bold graphic character.\u003cbr\u003e- Covers \u0026amp; Spine: Firm and square.\u003cbr\u003e- Binding: Tight, secure, and fully intact.\u003cbr\u003e- Interior \u0026amp; Pages: Age-toning (browning) to pages throughout — entirely consistent with paper of this era. No inscriptions, no underlining, no annotations.\u003cbr\u003e- *Please carefully inspect all high-resolution listing photos to verify the exceptional vintage condition.*\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"shady2grove","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":65553134322013,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1082\/5888\/5981\/files\/IMG_87502.jpg?v=1786531070","url":"https:\/\/shady2grove.com\/products\/henri-barbusse-lenfer-jigoku-trans-komaki-omi-sojusha-1950-showa-25-5th-printing-with-obi","provider":"shady2grove","version":"1.0","type":"link"}