The destination of the soul: this is what I, led on by Nils Holgersson, came to seek in the literature of Western Europe. I fervently hope that my pursuit, as a Japanese, of literature and culture will, in some small… — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
I am one of the writers who wish to create serious works of literature which dissociate themselves from those novels which are mere reflections of the vast consumer cultures of Tokyo and the subcultures of the world at large. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
“Bird, hesitating, recalled a line from the English textbook he was reading with his students; a young American was speaking angrily: Are you kidding… — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
“In introducing himself, he had said, "I'm the father," and the doctors had winced. Because something else must have echoed in their ears- I'm… — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
“I thought about death and was gripped by feelings which choked my chest and made my throat dry, a sudden pushing and shoving in my guts. It was a sort of chronic ailment I had. Once that feeling and that agitation of my whole body had begun, I wouldn't be able to shake it off until I got to asleep.… — Kenzaburō Ōe Copy Share
To be upright and to have an imagination: that is enough to be a very good young man. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
The writer's job is the job of a clown …the clown who also talks about sorrow. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
If any suffering was fruitless it was the agony of a hangover; what he suffered now could not expiate suffering of any other kind. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
The ambiguous orientation of Japan drove the country into the position of an invader in Asia. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
“If I'm a monster then I want to be a real monster. I'll become a monster and explode.” — Kenzaburō Ōe Copy Share Image
Paradoxically, the people and state of Japan living on such moral props were not innocent but had been stained by their own past history… — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
It is the second job of literature to create myth. But its first job is to destroy it. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
In the recent years there have been criticisms levelled against Japan suggesting that she should offer more military forces to the United Nations forces… — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
There's no better reading experience than going to the place where a text was written. — Kenzaburo Oe Copy Share Image
