Difference between ～のことを書いた本 and ～のことを書かれた本


From the start of 星の王子さま:

> 僕が六歳だったときのことだ。「ほんとうにあった話」という原生林のことを **書いた** 本で、すごい絵を見た。  
>  It was when I was six years old. I saw an amazing picture in a book called
> "Stories that Really Happened" that (someone) wrote about the primeval
> forest.

I'm a bit confused about 書いた here. I would have expected this to be in the
passive form. Since it is not, there must be some implied subject of the verb,
but these are the first two sentences of the book so the only subject I can
imply is "someone".

Is this usual in Japanese? Would 原生林のことを書かれた本 be more, or less natural, or
equally acceptable, and why?

I read [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/43161/difference-
between-%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%93%E3%81%A0%E6%9C%AC-
and-%E8%AA%AD%E3%81%BE%E3%82%8C%E3%81%9F%E6%9C%AC) but I don't think the
answer is applicable in this case.

**Edit:**

I've just realised I'm even more confused, because in my interpretation 本
would have been the **object** of 書く before it was made into a relative
clause. But after making it a relative clause 書く is now taking a second
object: 原生林のこと. So if 原生林のこと is the object then wouldn't 本 have to be the
subject, so I would get "a book that wrote about the primeval forest". But
books don't write things. People write things in books.

In the active sentence I guess I would have said something like 原生林について本を書いた.
So perhaps my alternative should have been 原生林について書かれた本.




Both Aのことを書いた本、Aのことが書かれた本 are used.

As you understood, Aのことを書いた本 is translated as "a book in which someone wrote
about A" and Aのことが書かれた本 is translated "a book which was written about A".

原生林のことを書かれた本 would be unnatural and 原生林について書いた本 would also make sense.

In the case that you want to refer to a specific writer, it would be usually
said like 村上春樹が戦争のことを書いた本, but not passive(村上春樹によって戦争のことが書かれた本).




Both Aのことを書いた本、Aのことが書かれた本 are used.

As you understood, Aのことを書いた本 is translated as "a book in which someone wrote
about A" and Aのことが書かれた本 is translated "a book which was written about A".

原生林のことを書かれた本 would be unnatural and 原生林について書いた本 would also make sense.

In the case that you want to refer to a specific writer, it would be usually
said like 村上春樹が戦争のことを書いた本, but not passive(村上春樹によって戦争のことが書かれた本).

