Kenzaburo Oe, who won Japan its second Nobel Prize for literature with books about pacifism and his disabled son, has died.
His brain-damaged son Hikari also became a driving force of his literature. Hikari was for years unable to communicate with his family but as an adult became known as a composer. Oe has said that much of his writing was an attempt to give Hikari a voice.
"Although I myself am perhaps quite a dark novelist, I believe that also my novels show a kind of trust in human beings," he said in 2014. "And this has come from my son." A graduate of Tokyo University, where he studied French Literature, Oe began publishing stories while still a student and won the Akutagawa Prize, a career-launching award for new writers, in 1958. A steady stream of work followed, including books on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Always a pacifist, Oe became an even more vocal critic after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, saying that Japan had "a sacred duty" to renounce nuclear power, the same way it renounced war under its constitution. In 2013 he organised an anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo and in 2015 joined thousands to protest moves by Abe to let Japanese troops fight abroad.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Japan’s Kenzaburo Oe, awarded Nobel for poetic fiction, diesTOKYO (AP) — Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe, whose darkly poetic novels were built from his childhood memories during Japan’s postwar occupation and from being the parent of a disabled son, has died.
Read more »
Malala Yousafzai Had a Perfect Reply When Asked If Harry Styles Spit on Chris PineOscars host Jimmy Kimmel forced the Nobel Prize winner to weigh in on the nontroversy.
Read more »
Razzie “Winners” 2023: 'Blonde' and 'Morbius' Receive Dubious HonorsThe obnoxious organization also awards themselves a “blunder” prize for nominating a child performer.
Read more »
Razzies Announce Worst Movies of the YearHere are the winners of this year’s Razzies. Did they get it right?
Read more »
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Takes Sound Prize In First Oscar WinIn its first win of the evening, Paramount/Skydance’s TopGunMaverick scooped the Oscar for Sound with the prize going to the team of Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor Oscars
Read more »
Leicester researcher lands £250k funding for DNA cancer workDr Amanda Chaplin won the prize from the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.
Read more »