[6] Maruya was mobilized into the Japanese Army in March 1945 when still a high school student, but did not see battlefield action as Japan surrendered shortly thereafter.

[5] He translated Joyce's Ulysses[7] in collaboration with Takamatsu Yūichi and Nagai Reiji (1964) and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in 1969.

During this time, he wrote several novels, including Ehoba no kao o sakete (エホバ の 顔 を さけて, 1958), Kanata e (彼方 へ, 1962), and Sasamakura (笹まくら, Grass for My Pillow, 1966).

[5] His criticism and essays include Go-Toba In (後鳥羽 院, The Retired Emperor Go-Toba, 1973), Nihon bungakushi hayawakari (日本文学史 早わかり, A Quick Guide to the History of Japanese Literature, 1976), Asobi jikan (遊び 時間, Play Time, 1976) and Chūshingura to wa nani ka (忠臣蔵 と は 何 か, What is the Chūshingura?, 1984).

In 1972 he published Tatta hitori no hanran (たった ひとり の 反乱, Singular Rebellion), for which he won the Tanizaki Prize.