e Kenzabur is a representative of contemporary Japanese literature by virtue of his abundant powers of creativity. In a literary career extending over four decades he has produced a large number of fi...
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Critical Essay by John Bester
Ōe has been accused, with some justice, of writing Japanese that reads like a translation from a Western language. His long and complex sentences have neither eleg...
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Critical Essay by Frederick Richter
On the surface it is paradoxical that Ōe Kenzaburō …, a spokesman for the Japanese New Left, admirer of Mao, and student of Sartrean Existentia...
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Critical Essay by Cornelia Holbert
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness is the best of [Ōe's] novels. Among those who will highly value it are parents, especially parents of retarded or autis...
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Critical Essay by Emiko Sakurai
Kenzaburō Ōe [is] the most talented writer to emerge in Japan after World War II. Like his previous publications (A Personal Matter, 1968,… and The...
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In the following essay, Richter examines the role of shame in the short story "Sheep. "
On the surface it is paradoxical that Ōe Kenzaburō (b. 1935), a spokesman for the Japa...
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Yamanouchi is a Japanese educator and author. Here, the critic details various literary methods employed in the works of Abe Köbö and Ōe and explores thematic parallels between the two...
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In the following interview, which was conducted in 1986, Ōe discusses such topics as the literary and cultural forces that have influenced him and the style and techniques of his fiction.
[Sanro...
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In the excerpt below, Wilson studies the narrative structure—especially the function of repetition—in "Father, Where Are You Going?," "Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madnes...
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In the essay below, Napier analyzes the contrasting roles that the Japanese Emperor plays in the works of Ōe and Yukio Mishima. While Ōe is severely critical of the imperial system, Mishim...
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In this essay, Nemoto compares Ōe's "The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away" to Günter Grass's The Tin Drum, arguing that the two works use similar techniqu...
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In the following essay, Wilson discusses Ōe's preoccupation with sexual “submission and liberation” in Our Times, noting that most Japanese critics responded negatively to ...
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In the following review, Harris praises Ōe's unique narrative style and vivid use of detail in Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids.
Only a pinch of suspicion is needed to theorize that Kenzabur...
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In the following positive review of Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself, Goff comments that all four lectures in the collection “reflect Ōe's abiding concern for the role of the writ...
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In the following interview, Ōe discusses his background as an existentialist and recounts the controversy surrounding his acceptance of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Kenzaburo Oe is the ...
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In the following review, Loughman offers a mixed assessment of Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids but commends the novel's “sharpness of focus, narrative simplicity, and spontaneity.”
W...
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In the following interview, Ōe discusses his relationship with his readers, translations of his works, and his intention of creating a new form of literary expression.
[Nathan]: As a very young...
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In the following review, Iwamoto commends Ōe's compassionate reflections on the Hiroshima tragedy and its impact on his own life in Hiroshima Notes but argues that the author's po...
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In the following review, Yoshida lauds Ōe's insights into the complexities of Japanese culture in Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself, calling the collection “a valuable glimpse into...
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In the following review, Wood underscores the importance that Ōe places on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, A Personal Matter, and Hiroshima Notes.
Perhaps all b...
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In the following review, L'Heureux notes the influence of Flannery O'Connor on An Echo of Heaven.
In 1994, Kenzaburo Oe was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature and in his Stockholm spe...
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In the following review, Rubin praises Ōe's multi-layered portrayal of Marie Kuraki, the protagonist of An Echo of Heaven.
Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994, Japan's ...
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In the following essay, Wilson argues that the narrative in The Football Game of the First Year of Manen is constructed as “an attempt to look simultaneously at the linear movement of historica...
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In the following review, Dalglish asserts that An Echo of Heaven can be viewed as a wholly original novel within the context of modern Japanese literature, labelling it as “a work riven with po...
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In the following review, Eder discusses the recurring themes of anger and shame in Ōe's early novellas Seventeen and J.
Splitting doesn't always weaken; it can transform and empow...
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In the following positive review, Ryan finds parallels between Ōe's narrative voice in An Echo of Heaven and the Nō theater of Japan.
In An Echo of Heaven, a lively, intelligent t...
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In the following review, Loughman offers an overview of the major thematic concerns in Seventeen and J.
Ōe Kenzaburō (see WLT 69:1, pp. 5-9) has never made a secret of his affinity with ...
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In the following review, Iwamoto commends Ōe's sensitive and poignant exploration of his relationship with his mentally and physically handicapped son, Hiraki, in A Healing Family.
The r...
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In the following essay, Swain investigates the major influences on Ōe's fiction and nonfiction, particularly the impact of the birth of his mentally and physically handicapped son.
On th...
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In the following review, King criticizes Ōe's “disturbing” fictionalization of events from his personal life in A Quiet Life.
A single event soars up, a sheer, jagged, snow...
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In the following essay, Ōe discusses his attitude toward and utilization of the “I-novel” form and reviews significant influences on his life and work.
Looking back upon my litera...
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In the following essay, Napier examines how the early works of Ōe and Mishima Yukio—particularly Ōe's “Prize Stock” and Pluck the Buds, Shoot the Kids and Yuk...
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In the following essay, Iwamoto offers a critical reading of the relationship between politics, power, and sex in Warera no jidai.
“Power is sexy,” the pop psychiatrist Dr. Joyce Brother...
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In the following essay, Tachibana analyzes thematic aspects of Ōe's “Prize Stock,” perceiving the story to be a study of power in a Japanese village community.
The literary...
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In the following essay, Ryan identifies the deception and corruption of children by adults as the central theme of Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids.
Ōe Kenzaburō was ten and a half years old...
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In the following review, Ward asserts that, despite Ōe's dense narrative style, Rouse Up, O Young Men of the New Age is ultimately a rewarding novel.
Considering that Kenzaburo Oe won th...
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In the following review, King faults Rouse Up, O Young Men of the New Age as a “narrow and self-referential” work.
The inspiration of Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese winner of the 1994 Nobel Priz...
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In the following review, Havel offers a positive assessment of Rouse Up, O Young Men of the New Age, praising the author's “gift for the portrayal of the inevitable emotional blunders of...
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In the following review, Allen contends that although Somersault is replete with beautiful images and compelling ideas, the novel is both “alienating and boring.”
Ever since World War II...
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In the following review, Maristed argues that Somersault is an “extraordinarily dense novel,” noting that Ōe's detached authorial voice distinguishes the work from his prev...
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In the following review, Picone lauds Ōe's “disquieting” world view in Somersault and argues that the novel broadens “the scope and form that the author's fut...
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In the following review, Lovell complains that the narrative in Somersault is too formulaic and flat, asserting that Haruki Murakami's Underground offers a much more compelling portrayal of Jap...
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In the following essay, Wilson considers the major themes in Ōe's short stories and novels, primarily focusing on Ōe's works which revolve around father-son relationships.
...
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In the following transcript of Ōe's Nobel Lecture, originally delivered on December 8, 1994, the author outlines the dilemmas confronting post-war Japan and discusses the influence of hi...
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In the following essay, Yoshida traces Ōe's literary development and asserts that the author's major thematic concerns “are closely related to his own personal problems and...
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In the following essay, Rubin notes that, although Ōe's writing explores uniquely Japanese issues and themes, the virtuosity of Ōe's prose has allowed his works to take &#x...
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[Wilson is a critic and educator specializing in Japanese and comparative literature. In the following essay, she analyzes Ōe's variations on his most recurrent themes in five of his wor...
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[In the following essay, Sakurai discusses the major influences on Ōe's early literary career, such as Japan's military defeat in 1945 and the works of such authors as Jean-Paul S...
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[In the following essay, Yoshida argues for the universality of Ōe's fiction, citing its strong affinities with the "grotesque realism" of the French Renaissance writer Fra...
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[In the following article, Sterngold reports on the Swedish Academy's decision to award Ōe the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature.]
The Swedish Academy announced today [October 14, 1994] in ...
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[In the following essay, Sterngold discusses Ōe's decision to reject Japan's Imperial Order of Culture—its highest cultural honor—and examines the Japanese public&#x...
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[In the following interview, which was conducted in 1986, Ōe discusses such topics as his literary and cultural influences and the style and techniques of his fiction.]
[Yoshida]: I met with Y&...
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[A Japanese-born English novelist and critic, Ishiguro received widespread critical acclaim for The Remains of the Day, which was awarded the 1989 Booker Prize for Fiction. In the following excerpt fr...
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[In the following review of the English publication of Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, Sakurai hails Ōe as a major international talent.]
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness [translated by John Na...
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[In the following review, Yoshida hails Natsukashii toshi e no tegami as a technically daring "milestone in Ōe's career."]
In the past Kenzaburō Ōe treated hi...
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[In the following review, Yoshida commends Ōe's Chiryō-tō as an imaginative and beautifully composed piece of science fiction.]
In Chiryō-tō (Towers of Healin...
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Kenzaburo Oe
