SOURCE: "The Theme of Survival in John Hersey's Hiroshima and Ibuse Masuji's Black Rain," in Tamkang Review, Vol. XIV, Nos. 1-4, Autumn 1983–Summer 1984, pp. 85-100.

In the following excerpt, Dorsey explores the theme of survival in Hiroshima.

In the fifth year of the atomic age, William Faulkner stated in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech his belief that man would not merely survive—he would prevail. The background to Faulkner's affirmation is the very negative experiences of World War II, in particular the experiments in mass killing which culminated in the development of nuclear weapons. If it is still possible to speak in affirmative terms about the survival of man, it is in part because a number of writers have braved two very intimidating questions posed by these mass killings. First, can we write about events of such magnitude? Second, do we deserve to write literature after such events...