Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself: The Nobel Prize Speech and Other Lectures

An excellent show of literary genius. The author defines how intricate society and literature are intertwined and the impact of ignoring literature's necessity. IMHO, great authors such as Kenzaburo Oe need to be studied to help obtain a better grasp of different styles of writing and what influences any author to be inspired to define his world on paper. This is modern litature at its best.... READ IT!

I discovered this book thanks to Orson Scott Card, who speaks of it in "Children of mind". It is a powerful book, but hard to read. You can't feel the same way before and after havieng read this book. Oe writes with his heart, each word is a part of his mind. He's a very smart person, but seems so nice! I can't describe my true feelings about this book. The vision and explications of the "peripherical nations" is so interesting, whereas it's an uneasy subject. One advice: read this book. I'm a french reader, and I did it ("Japan, the ambiguous and myself" isn't translate in french). So you can!!!

岩波新書「あいまいな日本の私」と照合しながら、読み進めています。私の語学力では難度が高いのですが、国内外の文学者がふんだんに登場し、文学の広範囲な広がりをイメージさせます。自分の出生地を文学の原体験とし、そこから和洋の文学に開眼していった経緯もよく伝わります。また、戦争や原爆、天皇制についても自身の考えをしっかり述べているところも思想的な安定性を感じます。なお、購入した本書の装丁も大変良好です。