Akutagawa Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 39 (1958) award
Kenzaburo Oe
おおえ けんざぶろう
Oe Kenzaburo
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1935-01-31 （Uchiko, Kita-Uwa District, Ehime Prefecture, Japan）
- Died
- 2023-03-03 （Tokyo, Japan）
- Nationality
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
Career
- Occupations
- Novelist
- Active Years
- 1958-
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Tokyo | Faculty of Letters | Department of Western Literature | 文学士 | 1953-1958 | Japan |
University of Tokyo
Faculty of Letters
/ Department of Western Literature
Degree:
文学士
Period:
1953-1958
Year of Graduation:
1958
Country:
Japan
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Noma Literary Prize | The Flood Reaches My Soul | — | Noma Literary Foundation | winner |
Noma Literary Prize
1973
Work:
The Flood Reaches My Soul
Organization:
Noma Literary Foundation
Result:
winner
Awards & Nominations
Shinchosha Literary Award
2 appearances
-
Edition 11 (1964) award
-
Edition 14 (1967) nominee
Tanizaki Junichiro Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 3 (1967) award
Noma Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 26 (1973) award
Yomiuri Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 34 (1982) award
Osaragi Jiro Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 10 (1983) award
Kawabata Yasunari Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 11 (1984) award
Ito Sei Literary Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 1 (1990) award
Works
Major Works
The Flood Reaches My Soul
1973 Literary Fiction, NovelŌki Yūgyo, living with his intellectually disabled son Jin in a nuclear shelter, communes with the spirits of trees and whales through meditation. After meeting the 'Free Navigation Corps' of young social outcasts and educating them through readings, a violent confrontation with riot police ensues. As the shelter fills with water, Yūgyo bids farewell to the spirits, declaring 'All is well!' before the end.
ImaginationCatastropheParent-Child BondCommunion with Nature
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Metaphorical descriptionAllegorical expressionPhilosophical dialogue
- Recurring Motifs
- WaterWhalesTreesBirdsong
Legacy
Recognized as one of Ōe's representative works and an important catastrophe novel in contemporary Japanese literature.
Quotes
-
All is well!
Source: The Flood Reaches My Soul (1973)
Trivia
- The title is derived from a Psalm in the Old Testament.
- The character Jin is based on Oe's real son Hikari Ōe.