Identify Appertaining To Books A Personal Matter
| Title | : | A Personal Matter |
| Author | : | Kenzaburō Ōe |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 165 pages |
| Published | : | January 13th 1994 by Grove Press (first published 1964) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Japan. Asian Literature. Japanese Literature. Literature |
Kenzaburō Ōe
Paperback | Pages: 165 pages Rating: 3.89 | 9168 Users | 786 Reviews
Commentary During Books A Personal Matter
Kenzaburō Ōe, 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 Ōe 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 personal 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.
Present Books In Pursuance Of A Personal Matter
| Original Title: | 個人的な体験 [Kojinteki na Taiken] |
| ISBN: | 0802150616 (ISBN13: 9780802150615) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Appertaining To Books A Personal Matter
Ratings: 3.89 From 9168 Users | 786 ReviewsRate Appertaining To Books A Personal Matter
I'm torn. On the one hand, this is an extremely well-written short novel about a man coming to terms with the birth of a special-needs child that will inevitably cause him to have to grow up and sacrifice many of his own selfish needs.On the other hand, I don't recall ever having such intense hatred for nearly every character in a book. I'm not trying to say that I simply didn't like them or that they were horrible characters; I mean that if I knew these people in real life, I would likely be inThis book from 1964 challenges us with whether we can empathize with its lead character, Bird, in the face of disgust over his morality. At the hospital where his wife has borne him a son, he learns that the baby has a brain aneurism and if it survives is likely to be severely handicapped. He conspires with his mother-in-law to keep its condition a secret while he follows its transfer to specialist care at a larger hospital elsewhere. He drinks to excess during the waiting period, gets fired
WARNING: May contain triggers for those who have experienced rape.I've written before about how novellas sometimes sneak up on me, taking a while to build up and becoming truly engaging just as they're about to end. I suppose that one sure-fire way to avoid this syndrome is to start your novella like Kenzaburo Oe's A Personal Matter: full-throttle intensity from the first page, when the atmosphere of subtly grotesque alienation is already fully developed, and the reader seems to be thrust down
Not a pretty story. The main character is a man who has just learned that his wife gave birth to a boy with a deformed head and brain damage. His primary feelings about the baby are shame and disgust. He thinks of the baby as the monstrosity and the vegetable baby.It seems impossible today, in western culture at least, to see how much in male-dominated Japan the mother of the child was left in ignorance of all that was happening. Its disturbing to see how her husband, her own mother, and the
I had never read Oe, although I was aware that he had won the Nobel Prize. The blurbs on the cover report that this is his most popular book, published around the time I graduated from college in the late sixties. I didn't know what to expect, but was surprised to discover a Japanese existentialist, a student of twentieth century French extentialist literature. His writing style reflects the influence of Sartre, Camus, and Beckett. I had read considerable French existentialism during my college
3.75 starsReading this novel by Kenzaburo Oe was nearly a mission impossible to me. On August 11 last year (2012), I started reading it, reached Chapter 4 and quit there. I didn't find it readable enough to find any motive to read any further, it was seemingly hopeless to read more till I could make it with his 13-chapter "The Silent Cry". I think Oe has tried to convey his message or voice by means of his novels written out of his bitter, tormented and enigmatic mind. Surprisingly this novel
There is no doubt in my mind that A Personal Matter is a skilfully executed piece of literature. And I hated reading it. The main character, Bird, is a 27 year old who dreams of going to Africa. When his son is born with a brain hernia, he is faced with deciding between surgery for his son (which may or may not allow him to develop normally) and preventing the surgery and allowing the baby to die.Maybe its because Im a young father myself, but the very idea that Bird would even consider allowing
0 Comments