>One month after his death, scholars in different parts of the world are reflecting on acclaimed author Kenzaburo Oe, whose political and international engagement make him an enduringly relevant voice of modern Japanese literature.
>Speaking to Kyodo News, Antonin Bechler, an associate professor with a doctorate in Japanese studies at the University of Strasbourg, said Oe’s writing shows a unique understanding of the underlying violence of postwar Japanese history and society.
>A key example is his 1961 novella “Seventeen”: a psychological portrayal of Japan’s lost and frustrated youth, who were reeling from the defeat of World War II and the sudden change in societal values that entailed.
>
>Reiko Abe Auestad, a professor at the University of Oslo, says Oe’s ability to test his ideas through literature is part of what makes him so fascinating.
>This can be seen in 1967’s “The Silent Cry,” which demonstrates how his fiction sometimes contradicts his ideological standpoint as an intellectual, according to Auestad.
>Filippo Cervelli, a lecturer at SOAS University of London who holds a doctorate in oriental studies, cites “Letters to My Nostalgic Years” (1987) as one work dealing with Oe’s identity as a “peripheral” writer from rural Shikoku, who never fully returned to his birthplace after moving to the cultural “center” of Tokyo as a student.
>”Letters” also demonstrates Oe’s extensive engagement with foreign authors and influences due to its use of medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” as a commentary on the main narrative.
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Excerpt from the linked content:^1
>One month after his death, scholars in different parts of the world are reflecting on acclaimed author Kenzaburo Oe, whose political and international engagement make him an enduringly relevant voice of modern Japanese literature.
>Speaking to Kyodo News, Antonin Bechler, an associate professor with a doctorate in Japanese studies at the University of Strasbourg, said Oe’s writing shows a unique understanding of the underlying violence of postwar Japanese history and society.
>A key example is his 1961 novella “Seventeen”: a psychological portrayal of Japan’s lost and frustrated youth, who were reeling from the defeat of World War II and the sudden change in societal values that entailed.
>
>Reiko Abe Auestad, a professor at the University of Oslo, says Oe’s ability to test his ideas through literature is part of what makes him so fascinating.
>This can be seen in 1967’s “The Silent Cry,” which demonstrates how his fiction sometimes contradicts his ideological standpoint as an intellectual, according to Auestad.
>Filippo Cervelli, a lecturer at SOAS University of London who holds a doctorate in oriental studies, cites “Letters to My Nostalgic Years” (1987) as one work dealing with Oe’s identity as a “peripheral” writer from rural Shikoku, who never fully returned to his birthplace after moving to the cultural “center” of Tokyo as a student.
>”Letters” also demonstrates Oe’s extensive engagement with foreign authors and influences due to its use of medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” as a commentary on the main narrative.
^1 Rosi Byard-Jones (14 Apr. 2023), “Int’l scholars reflect on Kenzaburo Oe’s legacy a month after death”, Kyodo News, https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/04/53518ae30c32-feature-intl-scholars-reflect-on-kenzaburo-oes-legacy-a-month-after-death.html
Fuuudge. I knew he was old, but I remember being fascinated by his writings as an undergrad. I wish his family the best.