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Title: Seventeen and J: Two Novels by Kenzaburo Oe, Luk Van Haute, Masao Miyoshi ISBN: 1562010913 Publisher: Foxrock Books Pub. Date: 09 January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5
Rating: 5
Summary: The Solemn Tightrope Walkers
Comment: This is quintessential Oe.
If we fail to see ourselves reflected in society often we become outcasts or are labeled as deviant. The images of Seventeen and J are not reflexive. Therefore, by acts of violence and sexual molestation, they superimpose their images on a world which refuses to see.
With Seventeen and J, Oe depicts the transmution of post-war Japan. This is cleverly evidenced by J's truncated name and the attitude of Seventeen's father. While the political aspect of Japan is more apparent in Seventeen, the politics in J are presented in a more abstract level.
They have each architected an inner world populated with the shadows of despair, doubt, and disgust. Oe lets us become voyeurs of the private and sometimes painful world of these two young men who are self-described "others".
Seventeen and J are both "Solemn Tightrope Walkers". Yet, what they are trying to balance is their existence in a world which they despise with a raison detre. This is demonstrated by Seventeen's fanatical involvement with a right-wing political group and J's flirtation with being a "chaikan".
These two novels should be read by anyone who gives a damn or have stopped.
Rating: 5
Summary: Two Novels: J and Seventeen.
Comment: Oe Kenzaburop is a genius. I gave a copy of this book to two people-once three or four years ago to my high school English teacher, and once again this year to a fellow college student at Binghamton University.
The first person liked Seventeen better. He thought the masturbation scene in Seventeen was masterful. I thought so too. The scene is supposedly the first masturbation scene in a Japanese novel, and it was enthrallingly detailed. Seventeen was a good depiction of a boy coming of age, and his confused entry into the world of Japanese politics. The second person to whom I gave the book, loved the part in which the protogonist of Seventeen kicks his sister in the face, breaking her glasses.
As the first person to whom I gave the book liked Seventeen better than J, the second person to whom I gave the book liked J better than Seventeen. I too liked J better. J was a more vivid depiction of Japan and its contemporary personage's. J is written in two parts. The first part of the book takes place in the country, it presents J as a person confused about sex and his own sexuality, and at some point he even comes across as homosexual. The second part shows him in the city. He no longer contents himself with the answers life grants him, he decides to go out into the world and chance finding the sexual answers he desires by taking action. He becomes a "chikan," a sexual predator, who rides trains looking for his next victim (he exposes his naked parts to innocent train passengers, usually young school girls heading to school or returning home). Riding the trains he meets two persons with whom he will develop a great bond. This novel introduces some of the most memorable characters in fiction. In the world of Japanese literature Oe Kenzaburo ranks with Saikaku Ihara, Yasunari Kawabata, and Mishima Yukio.
J is about sex, it is about the pain of being a sadist-the suffering a sadist has to go through because he is miss understood. Reading this book, and seeing the unfairness in it, is enough to make a person question the way we view people, and society for that matter.
This book is essential for anyone who's interested in sex, or is just a straight out pervert. The first person to whom I gave the book was an erudite, whom I felt needed to read the book to be further learnt in literature. The second person was one who wanted me to suggest some books for him to read, for he wanted to be well-read. I felt this book was essential for such a goal.
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Title: Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness by Kenzaburo Oe, John Nathan ISBN: 080215185X Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 1977 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Rouse Up, O Young Men of the New Age: A Novel by Kenzaburo Oe, John Nathan ISBN: 0802117104 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 12 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe, John Nathan ISBN: 0802150616 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 1988 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Nip the Buds Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburo Oe, Paul St. John MacKintosh, Maki Sugiyama ISBN: 0802134637 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: An Echo of Heaven by Kenzaburo Oe, Margaret Mitsutani ISBN: 477002505X Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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