Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
A Personal Matter
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
8 posts | 11 read | 11 to read
Kenzaburo Oe, the winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature, is internationally acclaimed as one of the most important and influential post-World War II writers, known for his powerful accounts of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and his own struggle to come to terms with a mentally handicapped son. The Swedish Academy lauded Oe for his "poetic force [that] creates an imagined world where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today." His most popular book, A Personal Matter is the story of Bird, a frustrated intellectual in a failing marriage whose Utopian dream is shattered when his wife gives birth to a brain-damaged child. "In writing novels there is no substitute for maturity and moral awareness. Kenzaburo Oe has both.--Alan Levensohn, Christian Science Monitor
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
blurb
Sophronisba
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

“We naturally try to forget our personal tragedies, serious or trifling, as soon as possible (even something as petty as being scorned or disdained by a stranger on a street corner). We try not to carry these things over to tomorrow. It is not strange, therefore, that the whole human race is trying to put Hiroshima, the extreme point of human tragedy, completely out of mind.”

-- Kenzaburo Oe, 1935 - 2023

Sophronisba (I've only read his _A Personal Matter_, years and years ago -- this reminds me that I really must read _Hiroshima Notes_ at least.)

Link to obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/obituaries/kenzaburo-oe-dead.html
2y
8 likes1 comment
quote
SqueakyChu
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

“There are people who leap-frog from one deception to another until the day they die.”

By now, I totally have had enough of such people! *sigh*

15 likes1 stack add
quote
SqueakyChu
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

Ah, the good old days...when one didn‘t have to be overly involved in politics EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Ardachy I don‘t know about the USA but in the UK very few people get involved in politics outside election time. Sadly this means that more extreme views get greater prominence than they deserve. 6y
Aimeesue @Ardachy The one good thing you can say about the current US administration is that it's gotten a lot of people more involved in politics. Necessarily so, because we're trying to keep our country and our institutions from being shredded from the inside. 6y
SqueakyChu @Ardachy This has got to change in the US. Not voting and/or being politically inactive is no longer a viable option if democracy is to survive in my country. (edited) 6y
SqueakyChu @Aimeesue Indeed. Rational political thinkers agree with you. 6y
17 likes4 comments
blurb
SqueakyChu
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

I‘m having a hard time getting into this book although I‘ve read more than half of it. Has anyone else read this novel? If so, what were your thoughts about it?

blurb
SqueakyChu
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

Just started this book. Its beginning is kind of creepy, but I enjoy reading fiction by #Japanese authors (and I have read a previous book by this same author) so I‘m settling down to enjoy this novel.

blurb
ArghyaDey
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

Brilliant Book. Finished it yesterday.

RaimeyGallant Good to know. :) And welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon Some of us put together Litsy tips to help new Littens navigate the site. It's the link in my bio on my page in case you need it. 7y
ArghyaDey Hey, Raimey. Thanks for the link. Will surely check it out. 7y
DebinHawaii Welcome to Litsy!! 🎉📚👍😀Hope you enjoy it here! 7y
Jess7 Welcome to Litsy!!! So glad you‘re here! #LitsyWelcomeWagon #Whotofollow | Checkout @Chelleo ‘s awesome YouTube #LitsyHowto videos if you have any questions!!! 7y
9 likes5 comments
review
bookwrm526
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
Mehso-so

This was incredibly difficult to read. The main character is attempting to deal with the birth of a potentially disabled child, through some of the most bizarre behaviors ever. He is not at all like able and his actions were extremely selfish and confused. The language was beautiful and that's really all that kept me going.

shawnmooney I first read it 10 years ago and immediately considered it to be one of the best novels I'd ever read. (For what it's worth, Jonathan Franzen calls it a "perfect novel.") I am rereading it now, and struggling with parts of it that didn't seem to bother me as a younger man: especially the casual way rape is discussed. But I still find the autobiographical parts about the disabled baby to be truly and deeply moving. 8y
bookwrm526 @shawnmooney I agree that the parts about the baby were moving, I could see the author's struggle, but ALL of the parts about sex were just so awful 8y
shawnmooney We may have varying levels of tolerance about the sex parts but I certainly hear you and I saw all of that, including the alcoholic binging, as a very long and drawn out chronicle of the depths to which Bird had to go to deny his fate before he could finally embrace it. 8y
See All 6 Comments
shawnmooney I do strongly recommend the nonfiction account of the true story about the real life baby: 8y
bookwrm526 @shawnmooney that actually sounds very interesting 8y
SqueakyChu @shawnmooney Wow! That sounds interesting. 6y
19 likes6 comments
blurb
bookwrm526
A Personal Matter | Kenzaburo Oe
post image

We don't have a local indie, except for used bookstores (which are great too) and I couldn't get to the library today, but here are the current ebooks I'm reading from my library currently :) #somethingforsept #septphotochallenge

22 likes1 stack add