| Guest of the ilb 2005
Kenzaburô Ôe was born the son of a landowning
family in the small town Ôse on the Japanese island Shikoku in 1935. He
studied French Literature until 1959 at the University of Tokyo and
concluded his studies with a thesis on Sartre. During the course of his
studies he published his first literary works, which were quickly
acclaimed. In 1958, for his novel »Shiiku« (1958; Eng. »The Catch«,
1959), Ôe received the most highly esteemed award in Japan, the
Akutagawa Prize. Growing up in the Japanese province and turning
towards European culture was significantly formative for Ôe. Separating
himself from nationalistic trends and the Tenno-Culture he developed a
widely diverse interest in Western philosophy, literature, and
mysticism. In 1960 he married his wife Yukari, with whom he has three
children. In 1963 his son Hikari was born mentally handicapped, a
circumstance that changed Ôe’s life completely. In his novel
»Kojintekina taiken« (1964; Eng. »A Personal Matter«, 1968) – which
received international acclaim – his fictional alter ego is put in the
position of deciding whether he should kill his handicapped newborn
child or let him live. Further themes, which Ôe explores in his novels,
are similarly tied to autobiographical experiences – for example, life
in a small isolated town at the time of Japanese capitulation after
World War II. The protagonists of his novels are anti-heroes: mostly
the same age as the author, living through existential crises, plagued
by despair, loneliness, and sexual estrangement. The unique
characteristic of Ôe’s many-layered art lies in the contrast of the
despairing condition of his characters with a willful black humour,
behind which even in the darkest of hours there shines forth a belief
in humanity.
In the seventies and eighties, Ôe took up a number of international
lecture and conference tours, which also reflect his commitment to the
political realm; since the sixties Ôe has been a member of the Japanese
Anti-Atom Movement, and he took part in the International Environment
and Peace movement. Ôe, who once compared the role of the writer with
that of the canary in a coal mine, is regarded as the »moral
conscience« of his country, and in his homeland he is confronted by
strong, conservative opponents.
In 1994, after the conclusion of his trilogy »Moeagaru midori no ki«
(t: part I: Until the savior is stricken, 1993; part II: The swinging
vacillation, 1994; part III: A flaming green tree, 1995), Ôe announced
that thenceforth he would dedicate himself to the work of Spinoza and
would stop writing. A few weeks later he was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature, at which time he put his previous project to rest.
Since then Ôe has worked on a novel sequence for which he again uses
autobiographical material as a foundation. Recently appearing in German
translation was »Tagame. Berlin – Tokyo« (2005), the first volume. Ôe
lives in Setagaya, a suburb west of Tokyo.
Translator: Nora Bierich
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