Kenzaburo Oe: THE CHANGELING
In The Changeling, Kenzaburo Oe uses
the autobiographical style of writing which, I suppose, in addition to the
beauty of his prose, made him win the Nobel Prize in 1994. The story in this
novel, which I see as a meditation in art and life in general in post-war Japan
interspersed in the entire prose, is quite complex. Honestly, there are
instances in the novel which completely puzzled me; this means I was not
completely sure if I totally got what the author tried to point out. This could be the reason it took me almost a
month to finish the 468-page book.
Nevertheless, I’m still happy about to
have read it. After all, Kenzeburo Oe is one of my favorite writers.
Brief Description (from www.amazon.com)
Kogito Choko, a writer in his early sixties, rekindles a childhood friendship with his estranged brotter-in-law, the renowned filmmaker Goro Hanawa. Goro send Kogito a trunk of tapes he has recorded of reflections about their relationship, but as Kogito is listening one night, he hears something odd. "I'm going to head over to the Other Side now." Goro says, and then Kogito hears a loud thud. After a moment of silence, Goro's voice continues: "But don't worry, I'm not going to stop communicating with yoy." Moments later, Kogito's wife rushes in; Goro has jumped to his death. With that, Kogito begins a far-ranging search to understand what drove his brother-in-law to suicide. His quest takes him from the forests of southern Japan to the washed-out streets of Berlin, where Kogito confronts the ghosts from his own past and that of his lifelong, but departed, friend.
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