The Silent Cry

Name: The Silent Cry
Brand: Allen & Unwin
SKU: 9781781255650
Price: 26.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Kenzaburo Oe

Series: Serpent's Tail Classics

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3.84

( 4,551 ratings, 500 reviews)

Summary

The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe delves into the lives of two brothers returning to their rural Japanese hometown amid personal and societal turmoil. As they confront family secrets and the echoes of historical events, the narrative explores themes of memory and identity against a backdrop of existential crises and cultural disintegration. It's a profound examination of how the past intertwines with present struggles.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$26⁰⁰

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~~$27⁹⁹~~

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The Silent Cry

$26⁰⁰

Elsewhere:

~~$27⁹⁹~~

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you appreciate deeply introspective narratives that delve into complex themes of family dynamics, existential crises, and societal detachment. Set against the backdrop of rural post-war Japan, it's perfect for readers who enjoy exploring intricate human emotions and profound philosophical reflections.

The Silent Cry

Japanese Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe's most important novel.

Japanese Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe's most important novel

Description

It is the 1960s, and the Nedokoro brothers have long-since left their family home in a remote forested valley on Shikoku, in the south of Japan: Mitsusaburo for Tokyo to work as a translator and English professor; his younger brother Takashi for the United States, to atone for his part in anti-American student protests.

Takashi's return to Japan coincides with a local Korean supermarket magnate's offer to buy the brothers' ancestral storehouse, pitting Mitsusaburo and Takashi against one another and dredging up family histories perhaps best forgotten.

The Silent Cry, Oe's dark masterpiece of family psychology, is the most important Japanese novel of the post-war period and a strange, unsettling tale of how the call of blood and history echoes down the generations.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

This novel by Kenzaburo Oe is celebrated for its exploration of human relationships and the complex interplay of knowledge, passions, and dreams in a bewildering world. Critics praise it for its blending of tragedy with a subtle comic thread, indicating its profound artistry. It has been described as an extraordinary work with a unique ability to capture the soul-searching essence of postwar Japan, earning comparisons to Dostoevsky in its depth and range of emotions.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781781255650

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 16 June 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Serpent's Tail

Edition: Main - Classic edition

Contributors:

Translated by John Bester

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 230g

Pages: 288

Collections

Fiction General Fiction Kenzaburo Oe Literary Fiction Series: Serpent's Tail Classics

About the Author

Kenzaburo Oe is Japan's most important living writer. Born in 1935 on the island of Shikoku, Oe studied literature at Tokyo University before spending the sixties in Paris where he came under the influence of Sartre. After his debut novel, he wrote a string of books dissecting contemporary Japan, including Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness, Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age!, The Pinch Runner Memorandum and the essay collection Hiroshima Notes, on the impact on Japan's national psyche of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War.

He lives in Tokyo with his wife and his eldest son Hikari, who was born with severe brain damage; many of the narrators in Oe's fiction have brain-damaged children, most notably in the semi-autobiographical novel A Personal Matter. He won the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature.

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