A Comprehensive History of Chinese Art (Volume 5)

Author: (Japan) Kenzaburō ōe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-08-01
Features: Kenzaburō ōe employs an extremely rich imagination, telling the story of the protagonist, Taro, who, after failing to oppose the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, travels to the United States and returns to his hometown. He lives in isolation in a dense forest-covered valley, imitating the methods of his great-grandfather who led a peasant uprising a hundred years ago. He organizes a soccer team and incites a "modern uprising," skillfully intertwining reality with fiction, the present with the past, the city with the countryside, Eastern culture with Western culture. The narrative is interwoven with themes of (deformed children), rebellion, adultery, incest, and suicide, depicting a series of bizarre and colorful scenes to explore how humans can escape the "forest" symbolizing terror and unease. The Nobel Prize in Literature Committee described it as "a fusion of knowledge, passion, ambition, and attitude, profoundly delving into the relationships between people in turbulent times."