Rational analysis and mystic poetry combine in Kenzaburo Oe's 'Rouse Up O Young Men'
Through the poetry of William Blake, Kenzaburo Oe takes a new approach to probing the emotional consequences of his father's death, and parenting a severely disabled son.
'The Old Bamboo-Hewer's Story': Deeply ingrained in the Japanese cultural imagination
"Taketori Monogatari," or "The Old Bamboo-Hewer's Story," is a fascinating piece of early Japanese literature, well worth the short read. Written in the 10th century, it is one of the earliest known Japanese prose narratives, and the story recounts the beloved folktale of the ...
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's "Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window" became a runaway bestseller when it debuted in Japanese in 1981, and has since been translated into over 30 languages. With increasing awareness of the importance of catering to children with diverse needs in Japan's ...
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness': Reflections on father-son relationships
In Oe's "Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness," the lifelong sense of obsession and profound sense of guilt engendered within his own familial history finds acute literary expression.
In "Studies in Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan," leading postwar political scientist Masao Maruyama chronicles the ideas and debates of scholars throughout the Edo Period (1603-1868). Studies in Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan, by Masao Maruyama, Translated by Mikiso Hane.383 pages PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, Nonfiction. The central ...
John Okada's 'No-No Boy': Once overlooked, now a classic tale of identity
"No-No Boy," a 1957 novel by Japanese-American writer John Okada, unravels the complicated, varied perspectives of Japanese-Americans in the aftermath of World War II under the shadow of the internment camps of the American northwest.
'The Journey': Jiro Osaragi depicts a society coming to grips with defeat and occupation
Jiro Osaragi's "The Journey" is an intriguing literary and psychological depiction of a society coming to grips with the aftermath of defeat and occupation.
Strongly autobiographical, 'Death by Water' reflects on Kenzaburo Oe's own oeuvre
Written in dialogue with Oe's own, earlier works on similar subjects "Death by Water" is a careful, multilayered contemplation on the methodology and potential of art itself.
'The Crazy Iris': Unflinching stories inspired by the aftermath of the atomic bomb
Compiled and edited by Kenzaburo Oe, "The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath" is a multifaceted look at the nightmarish horrors of the atomic bomb.
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids' condemns wartime cruelty
Oe's first novel, published in 1958 when he was only 23, tells of a group of school children evacuated to a remote village to escape wartime bombing raids, only to be cut off and abandoned when plague breaks out.
'First Snow on Fuji': Yasunari Kawabata exhibits his mastery of the short story
In "First Snow on Fuji," nine short stories and one dramatic work selected by Kawabata himself highlight this literary master's minimalist prose.
'Suicide Forest' by Jeremy Bates: Creatively creepy and sure to scare
In Jeremy Bates' "Suicide Forest," not everyone will return from a deadly journey through Aokigahara Jukai, the "Sea of Trees" at the foot of Mount Fuji...
