last updated: Sat, November 9, 2019 4:39 PM
This is one of his very first literary efforts once he had left his pre-medical track and was part of the literature department. "Grotesque realism" is an important techniquge for this short story.
This was a pivotal essay for Oe, read probably in 1957 or perhaps 1956 and its effect can be seen immediately in his writings. This technique will remain important to him for decades though, to my mind, it seems to fade in the 2000s at some point.
This is a succinct statement on existentialism that, I believe, is close to how Oe viewed it. "We do not do as we please, yet we are responsible for what we are: that is the brute fact."
The chapter titles below are first the translator's version, then the original, then my more literal translation of the full chapter title. a document I made that has more detail about chapter titles, including the full poems and paragraphs form which the quoations are drawn can be found here.
The direct link to my notes for this particular work are here.
In the Wake of the Dead
Original: 死者にみちびかれて
Guided by the dead
Family Reunion
Original: 一族再会
Family reunion
Mighty Forest
Original: 森の力
Power of the forest
Dreams within Dreams
Original: 見たり見えたりする一切有るは夢の夢にすぎませぬか。（ポー、日夏耿之介訳）
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
(Poe, translated by Hinatsu Kōnosuke)
The Emperor of the Supermarkets
Original: スーパー・マーケットの天皇
Supermarket Emperor
The chapter titles below are first the translator's version, then the original, then my more literal translation of the full chapter title. a document I made that has more detail about chapter titles, including the full poems and paragraphs form which the quoations are drawn can be found here.
The direct link to my notes for this particular work are here.
A Strange Sport
Original: 百年後のフットボール
Football after 100 years
Procession from the Past
Original: 念仏踊りの復興
Return of the Nembutsu Dance
Truth Unspeakable
Original: 本当のことを云おうか（谷川俊太郎『鳥羽』）
"Shall I tell the truth?" or "Maybe I'll tell you the truth"
(from Tanikawa Shuntarō's "Toba")
The Freedom of the Ostracized
Original: 追放された者の自由
The freedom of those who have been expelled
Imagination in Riot
Original: 想像力の暴動
A power of imagination riot
The chapter titles below are first the translator's version, then the original, then my more literal translation of the full chapter title. a document I made that has more detail about chapter titles, including the full poems and paragraphs form which the quoations are drawn can be found here.
The direct link to my notes for this particular work are here.
The Power of the Flies
Original: 蠅の力。蠅は我々の魂の活動を妨げ、我々の体を食ひ、かくして戦ひに打ち勝つ。（パスカル、由木康訳）
"The power of flies: they win battles, hinder our soul from acting, eat our body"
(Pascal, translated by Yūki Kō)
A Way Beyond Despair
Original: 絶望のうちにあって死ぬ。諸君はいまでも、この言葉の意味を理解することができるであろうか。それは決してたんに死ぬことではない。それは生まれでたことを後悔しつつ恥辱と憎悪と恐怖のうちに死ぬことである、というべきはなかろうか。（J＝P・サルトル、松浪信三郎訳）
"To die within despair. I wonder, dear readers, if you have fully understood up until now the meaning of those words? This is not just to die. This is to die in fear and hatred and shame, while regretting that fact of having been born. This seems perhaps the best way to describe it."
(J-P Sartre, translated by Matsunami Shinsaburō)
Retrial
Original: 再審
Retrial