Масахико Симада - Death by Choice

To be honest, when I began this novel my plan was to write up the theme of suicide in a kind of muscular comedy form à la Chaplin, Lloyd, or Keaton. The idea was to address those youths who mystify suicide in their pallid novels, and say to them Come on guys, enough. It’s really just a comedy, you know. At any rate, that was the plan until I got as far as THURSDAY.

When I launched into FRIDAY, things took a new direction. Then I put off the publication deadline, and added another chapter called SOMEDAY.

Once the Friday deadline is passed, what Yoshio Kita confronts is death itself.

If I can claim to have understood anything in the process of writing this novel, it’s that there’s another kind of urge besides the urge to eat, the sex urge, and the urge to know – and that’s the urge to die. Freud was right.

An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company Limited (WPC)

Another imprint of WPC is Anthem Press ( www.anthempress.com)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2013 by

THAMES RIVER PRESS

75-76 Blackfriars Road

London SE1 8HA

www.thamesriverpress.com

Original title: Jiyu shikei

Copyright © Masahiko Shimada 2003

Originally published in Japan by SHUEISHA, Tokyo

English translation copyright © Meredith McKinney 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All the characters and events described in this novel are imaginary and any similarity with real people or events is purely coincidental.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-85728-247-7

Cover design by Laura Carless.

This title is also available as an eBook.

This book has been selected by the Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP), an initiative of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan.

This ebook was produced with http://pressbooks.com.