[Volcano] is a Japanese novel, and a good one, but it has strong echoes from the West. At first there are echoes of Ibsen: the classic dilemma of Dr. Stockmann, "Enemy of the People." Jinpei Suda, a volcanologist has spent his life studying Akadake, the long extinct volcano which dominates the city. Suddenly, the volcano rumbles and gives evidence of life. Jinpei's whole life and his reputation rest on his expert prediction of what the volcano will do….

But just as we are settling in to the Ibsen dilemma, a Graham Greene character takes over: He is the unfrocked French Catholic priest, Père Durand…. For him, evil in the world is enormous and Akadake is the symbol of its enormity….

Then, just as we are balancing these two men off against each other in their relationship to Akadake, their lives come together in adjacent hospital rooms on...