The usage of past and present verbs simultaneously


I was reading this 小説 and i noticed that the author uses the past and the
present tense of the verbs simultaneously (sorry for the length, but it's for
the purpose examples).

> 「あなたの余命は残り三千メートルです」 電話の声は冷たく **言い放った** 。巷ではその手の病が流行っているよう **だった**
> 。余命三千に関わるウイルスの変種が次々に発生していて、私もそいつにやられてしまったよう **だった**
> 。仕方なく、なるべく動かなくて済むような生活をすることに **した** 。買い物には **行かない** 。必要なものは通信販売で購入 **する**
> 。仕事にも **行かない** 。きっとそのうち解雇されるだろう。会社に事情を話しておいた方が良いかもしれないが、状況を説明して納得してもらえる自信が
> **なかった** 。どうせもうすぐ死んでしまうの **だ** 。しばらく食っていくくらいのお金は **ある** 。もう仕事のことは考えないように
> **しよう** 。残り三千メートルを有意義に過ごすにはどうすれば良いか、それだけに集中 **しよう** 。そんなことを考えていたら、また電話が
> **鳴った** 。

I know that the past and presente tense of japanese verbs are quite different
grammatically than English or Italian's one (my mother tounge). So i would ask
what is the meanings/nuances about this usage and what feeling they give in
novels.

P.S. I'm asking for a natural perspective of a native speaker, not only from a
linguistic/thechnical point of view. Thank you!




The present tense used can be understood as so-called historical present.

I guess the following interpretation should be reasonable. Suppose the prose
is written when the phone rang. All the sentences up to することにした describe
things that are past. Then 買い物は...集中しよう describe things that are ongoing or
the speaker's will about future actions, except 自信がなかった. Then 電話が鳴った is a past
event (from the time point of writing).

Regarding 自信がなかった, it's in the past tense probably because the writer has in
mind the protagonist once tried to call but didn't due to the lack of
confidence. Using 自信がない is okay here but it would sound like the protagonist's
still wondering which may be a bit inconsistent with the following
もう仕事のことは考えない (nice!).




The present tense used can be understood as so-called historical present.

I guess the following interpretation should be reasonable. Suppose the prose
is written when the phone rang. All the sentences up to することにした describe
things that are past. Then 買い物は...集中しよう describe things that are ongoing or
the speaker's will about future actions, except 自信がなかった. Then 電話が鳴った is a past
event (from the time point of writing).

Regarding 自信がなかった, it's in the past tense probably because the writer has in
mind the protagonist once tried to call but didn't due to the lack of
confidence. Using 自信がない is okay here but it would sound like the protagonist's
still wondering which may be a bit inconsistent with the following
もう仕事のことは考えない (nice!).

