As translator John Nathan writes, “Kenzaburo Oé, awarded the 1994 Nobel Prizein literature, is in a real sense Japan’s first modern writer, both in the sense of having come of age in the postwar era, and also in the sense of dealing with contemporary, and deeply personal, issues in a direct and sometimes violent way uncharacteristic of most Japanese writing even today. Unlike earlier Japanese novelists who took European authors as their models, Oé considers Huckleberry Finn to be his inspiration. Twain’s novel, which Oé first read as, a child, has colored his imagination ever since, and his subsequent encounters with radical political movements and French Existentialism only intensified Oé’s identification with Huck’s individualism, his willingness to defy societyeven at the price of damnation. Oé’s personal commitment to individual action is evidentin his work, and contributes to its power even in translation.”

This emphasis on individualism, colored by Existentialism, is a key to Oé’s literary approach in his book A Personal Matter, written in 1964. The author’s protagonist, Bird, is seemingly capable of succeeding at only having sex, drinking, and vomiting. As a 27-year old disinterested teacher in a “cram school,” he’s a failure, and the book’s low point — and tellingly, also its high point — is structured around the birth of his brain-damaged son. The author manages to leave out virtually every element concerning his wife, other than the fact that she’s given birth. Her role as a non-entity is heightened by the conspiracy among all members of her family to deny telling her exactly what’s wrong with her baby. Stepping into Bird’s personal void is ex-girlfriend Himiko, a sexual adventuress known for her red MG roadster.

The book has autobiographical elements. Oé’s own son was discovered to be autistic, and in his introduction, translator John Nathan refers to the author’s increasingly deep relationship with his son. Here at WoWasis, we found it easier to relate to Himiko than to Bird. As the book progresses, her dreams take flight at the possibility of joining Bird on the trip to Africa about which he’s fantasized for his entire adulthood. They’re both in badly need of an escape, but by the book’s end, Bird begins to realize that in essence his entire life has been about escaping from reality and responsibility, and the book finishes with a somewhat unexpected conclusion amidst a notion of a far from certain future. Buy A Personal Matter now at the WoWasis eStore.