Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese Nobel Prize for Literature, has died

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe, a Nobel laureate in literature who wrote dark, poetic novels inspired by his childhood memories of Japan’s postwar occupation and his experiences as a father of a disabled son, died. He was 88 years old.

Oe died of old age on March 3, according to his publisher, Kodansha Ltd. The company did not provide further details of the death, saying the funeral was held with the family.

Oe won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994, the second Japanese author to win the prize.

The Swedish Academy recognized his work of fiction, in which “a poetic force creates an imaginary world in which life and myth condense to form a bewildering picture of present-day human dilemmas”.

His most characteristic works are marked by the birth of his son, suffering from intellectual disability, in 1963.

“A Personal Matter” (“Kojinteki na taiken”), released the following year, is the story of a father trying to come to terms with the birth of a brain-damaged son from darkness and pain. Many of his later works include a damaged or deformed child with symbolic significance, stories and characters that evolved and matured as Oe’s son grew up.

Hikari Oe suffered from a cranial malformation from birth which caused him intellectual disability. He has a limited ability to speak and read, although he has become a music composer and his work has been performed and recorded on albums.

The other Japanese author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature was Yasunari Kawabata in 1968.

Despite displays of national pride at Oe’s victory, the themes of his work evoke deep unease in his country. Oe, who was 10 when World War II ended, grew up during the American occupation.

“Humiliation took root in him and colored much of his work. He himself describes his texts as a means of exorcising demons,” the Swedish Academy said.

Childhood memoirs of war punctuated the story from his literary debut, “The Prey” (“Shiiku”), about a country boy’s experiences when an American pilot is shot down over his village.

The book, published in 1958 while Oe was still a university student, won Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Prize for New Authors.