I coughed up blood last night. I coughed up blood the night before too.

There was no reason for it, and it was not that life suddenly seemed precious. It was only that the strained disguise I had kept up until yesterday had fallen away.

Here, coughing up blood means tuberculosis, which was probably incurable at the time. Now, though, tuberculosis can be cured in the vast majority of cases.

Still, I am curious about how the book’s remarkable health retreat managed to cure so many people through natural therapy.

But that is only an aside. A sudden, life-threatening illness can tear away the veil that covers one’s awareness of life, while also making death feel less frightening.

A renewed awareness of life can probably bring about a major change in personality. Psychology has no shortage of such cases. In the book, after entering the sanatorium, the protagonist changes from taciturn to talkative. He also says that he seems to have become a new man.