Teach us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels

By Kenzaburō Ōe

Book Overview

These four novels display Oe's passionate and original vision. Oe was ten when American jeeps first drove into the mountain village where he lived, and his literary work reveals the tension and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394413385
• ISBN13: 9780394413389
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Imaginative, raw, every word pulls you into his world.

Kenzaburo Oe was introduced to myself less than a year ago and since that time I regard him as my favorite writer. He has a tragic history in life and he portrays the reality of his pain so deeply within his stories. Yet, his writing is far from depressing. His imagination is on a far different level than any other writer I have run into. He writes what most are afraid to hear or describe. His prose is incredibly poetic, concise, and he leaves no room for candy coated happy endings. Everything he writes is real and I feel comes from deep in his soul. If you want to read about real life read Oe. His work flows like a story from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but includes a darker side. I find myself reading Oe over and over again I hope I have sparked someone else's interest.

last three stories are better that the first

I did not like the abstract nature of the first story, the unresolved plot elements like whether the main character has cancer or not and who the "chief executor is", nor the jumping between the past of WWII Japan and present of a hospital room with a man wearing green goggles. Why? The second story was more engaging and linear. I especially liked the depiction of the Black soldier as a gentle monster. It is a bit disturbing that the children could not relate to him as a human at any point of the story; maybe I'm sensitive because I'm Black. The title story was somewhat abstract, but still accessible and I liked the honesty of the depiction of the main character. A father comes to grips with the fact that he is being over protective of his mentally retarded child. Some of the metaphors were based on Japanese culture (eg. The smell of particular animals or farm implements), but overall an entertaining work. The last story was my favorite and deals with a character dealing (or resolving) the loss (murder?) of his child. Oe's prose is simple, but detailed; economical. I did not feel that any words were wasted in relating these stories and there is an originality to the plots that also make his work interesting. The second story was more engaging and linear. I liked it especially the depiction of the Black soldier as a gentle monster. It is a bit disturbing that the children could not relate to him as a human at any point of the novella; maybe I'm sensitive because I'm Black. The third story (the title story) was somewhat abstract, but still accessible and I liked the honesty of the depiction of the main character. Some of the metaphors were based on Japanese culture (eg. The smell of particular animals or farm implements), but overall an entertaining work. The last novella was my favorite and deals with a character dealing (or resolving) the loss (murder?) of his child. Oe's prose is simple, but detailed; economical. I did not feel that any words were wasted in relating these stories and there is an originality to the plots that also make his work interesting.