Jesse Ball - Silence Once Begun

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One day in the springtime, when I was still a child, Oda Sotatsu was taken from his prison cell. He was led down hallways. He was asked to show that he was indeed himself, and he showed it. Others agreed to it. He was led into one room after another, past statues. He was made to stand on a flat trapdoor and when the word was given he was hanged by the neck until dead.

The news was broadcast by radio and by television to the general population. There was happiness, but also confusion. Many there were who wanted to know — what had happened to the disappeared.

Then, one week following the execution, in the city of Sakai, a procession appeared in the street. It was a procession of people dressed all in white, every one, and led by a young man, Sato Kakuzo. They were dressed as penitents, in the old fashion, he and all those who were supposedly disappeared, those for whose sake Oda Sotatsu had been executed. They were still living, and they walked in a procession through the streets to the courthouse, while the city looked on in astonishment. There on the steps of the courthouse, Sato Kakuzo delivered a speech to members of the press and a crowd that had gathered, following the procession. In his speech he accused the society of the crime it had committed, making it known that the murder of the innocent man Oda Sotatsu had gone forward, and that others too, in the days and years to come, would be executed, on no evidence at all.

We cannot allow this , he said. Those of you still living, those of us still living, we cannot allow this. If you live still, with your actions declare, we cannot allow this .

The newspapers printed the matter.

Some weeks passed, and it was essentially forgotten. When I learned of it, I felt I should write about it. I felt it must have been written about. I felt there must have been books and books about it. There were none. I felt my life and my experience, my loss suited me to the task, so I set this down, this book.

This then is the book about it. This is the record of Oda Sotatsu and his life, and of the plot of Sato Kakuzo, and of the love of Jito Joo.

Here acknowledge for generosity in the execution of appointed and unappointed tasks of every conceivable kind:

NYC

J. Jackson & all at Vintage, Pantheon, Random House.

Billy, David, Becky, Jessie & all at Kuhn Projects.

ELSEWHERE

C. Ball, Th. Bjornsdottir, A. Aegisdottir.

CHICAGO

Salazar Larus, Nora, Nutmeg & Skunkur Amelius.

S. Levine, L. Wainwright, J. McManus, J. Francis, R. Inoue.

Jesse Ball is the author of three previous novels, including Samedi the Deafness , and several works of verse, bestiaries, and sketchbooks. His prizes include the 2008 Paris Review Plimpton Prize; his verse has been included in the Best American Poetry series. He gives classes on lucid dreaming and lying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.