National Feb 13, 2021
Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe's manuscripts archived at University of Tokyo
The works by the 86-year-old author consist of the manuscripts of his novels published since the 1950s as well as proof sheets.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Nov 10, 2018
Rational analysis and mystic poetry combine in Kenzaburo Oe's 'Rouse Up O Young Men'
by Damian Flanagan
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.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Oct 13, 2018
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness': Reflections on father-son relationships
by Damian Flanagan
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.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Sep 8, 2018
Strongly autobiographical, 'Death by Water' reflects on Kenzaburo Oe's own oeuvre
by Damian Flanagan
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.
Books / Reviews | RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN Sep 1, 2018
Toshiki Okada's 'The End of the Moment We Had' explores the plague of modern ennui in Japan
by Nicolas Gattig
In two short stories, "The End of the Moment We Had" and "My Place in Plural" Okada excels at describing the great indifference that marks some Japanese youth.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Aug 25, 2018
'The Crazy Iris': Unflinching stories inspired by the aftermath of the atomic bomb
by Damian Flanagan
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.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Aug 11, 2018
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids' condemns wartime cruelty
by Damian Flanagan
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.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES May 12, 2018
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Seventeen and J: Two Novels': 1960s Japan on the brink of social revolution
by Damian Flanagan
On the cusp of the 1960s sexual revolution and the anti-Vietnam War movement, "Seventeen" and "J" are intriguing primers on the seething social turbulence of the age.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Nov 11, 2017
'Hiroshima Notes': Kenzaburo Oe on Hiroshima and the U.S. Occupation
by Damian Flanagan
In 1963, 28-year-old novelist and rising star Kenzaburo Oe was sent to Hiroshima to report on the rancorous split between political groups calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Hiroshima Notes, by Kenzaburo Oe.192 pages GROVE ATLANTIC, Nonfiction. It would be the first of multiple visits to ...
Books Oct 15, 2016
Murakami may never win the Nobel Prize — and that's OK
by Kaori Shoji
In early 2015, Haruki Murakami began an advice column on his blog called "Murakami-san no Tokoro" ("Mr. Murakami's Place"). In it, the famed author replied to questions sent in by his readers. "So what do you think of the annual fuss surrounding the Nobel Prize ...
Books / Reviews Apr 2, 2016
'A Quiet Life' shows a dark, different side to Kenzaburo Oe
by Iain Maloney
With Kenzaburo Oe's latest novel, "Death by Water," on the longlist of the Man Booker International Prize this year, the Nobel laureate's work is again receiving the global attention it richly deserves. A Quiet Life, by Kenzaburo Oe, Translated ...
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Mar 26, 2016
'Somersault' shows Kenzaburo Oe tackling Japan's terror cults
by Iain Maloney
Haruki Murakami has said that 1995 was the year when many of Japan's certainties were destroyed. In January of that year, the Great Hanshin Earthquake killed 6,434 people and then in March, local doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, ...