岛木健作的长篇小说《生活的探求》创作于日本军国主义的白热化时期，是“转向文学”的代表作。小说描写了一位从大学辍学回到农村老家的青年在放弃信仰之后的思考与生活，作品的中心主题是摸索信仰“转向”后如何重新建构身份，是一部特定时代下的极为特殊的修养小说。小说书写的是青年知识分子在自由意志被严酷摧残的政治体制下，凭借社会实践、人格修养来重构身份的历程。该作采用与其他转向文学明显不同的书写策略，通过深刻剖白“转向”的内因，以及细致、真实地描绘农村生活的点滴，颠覆了“转向=变节”的话语秩序，以看似脱离政治的方式来实现理性与情感的统一。

Shimaki Kensaku's The Quest for Life was written during the heated period of Japanese militarism, and is a masterpiece of "Tenko Literature". The theme of the novel is the exploration of how to reconstruct identity after one's renunciation of Marxism. It is a very special Bildungsroman in a reactionary era. The novel is about a young intellectual's journey to reconstruct his identity through social practice and personal cultivation in a political system where free will has been harshly destroyed. Shimaki's tenko writings are different from other tenko literature. Through providing an insight into the internal causes of political conversion, as well as a detailed and realistic portrayal of rural life, it subverts the discursive order of "Political Conversion = Defection", unites reason and emotion in a seemingly apolitical way.