Abstract

Modernist Agonistes
Miyoshi, Masao | May 15, 1995 issue

add to cart   close window

American reader Kenzaburo Oe refers back to his own earlier works, from which events and characters reappear and re-exit as if they belonged to every reader's family saga. His vocabulary and syntax, sometimes dismissed by Japanese critics as "the translation style," are in fact uncompromising attempts to defamiliarize and renew the Japanese language. Despite his cosmopolitan knowledge, he is a "marginalist" whose literary imagination has remained deeply rooted in his remote home village. This most recent Nobel laureate, whose life's work has been so shaped by his determination to fight against war and the atomic bomb, might as well remain untranslated.

See Also:

OE, Kenzaburo, 1935-; JAPANESE; LITERATURE; LANGUAGE arts; VOCABULARY; ARTS
ARCHIVE HOME
Pricing
Articles are sold in 'packs,' which are priced as follows:

1 for 2.95
4 for 9.95
10 for 19.95
50 for 34.95
300 for 149.95
Refund Policy
Sales of archive individual articles, full issues or article packs are final and no refunds will be issued.
Access for libraries
help
Search
Browse
Sample Article

My Articles

You must be logged in to view your articles.

User name

Password

I don't have a login.

I forgot my user name/password.
Advertisement
Advertisement

Blogs

» The Beat

Obama's "Finish the Job" Talks Seems to Set Stage for Afghan Tro | But Appropriations Committee chair Obey warns the move would "wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy."
John Nichols
Posted 49 minutes ago

» The Notion

Bad Black Mothers | For African American women, reproduction has never been an entirely private matter.
Melissa Harris-Lacewell
7 Comments
Posted at 7:59 PM ET

» The Dreyfuss Report

A Kingdom of Bicycles No Longer | China's ambassador for climate change speaks on the eve of the Copenhagen summit meeting.
Robert Dreyfuss
39 Comments

» Act Now!

Coal Country | "This is a civil war."
Peter Rothberg
83 Comments

» Editor's Cut

Around the Nation | The week we went Rouge. Plus, Moyers on Afghanistan.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
113 Comments

» Altercation

Slacker Friday | The "Second Amendment" sale; the raving paranoids of the right.
Eric Alterman