1994 Nobel Prize in Literature
1994 Nobel Prize in Literature | |
---|---|
Kenzaburō Ōe | |
Date |
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Location | Stockholm, Sweden |
Presented by | Swedish Academy |
First awarded | 1901 |
Website | Official website |
The 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Japanese novelist Kenzaburō Ōe (1935–2023) "who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today."[1] He is the second Japanese Nobel laureate in Literature after Yasunari Kawabata was awarded in 1968.[2][3]
Laureate
Kenzaburō Ōe's novels about the impact of World War II on Japan include Memushiri kouchi ("Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids", 1958) and Hiroshima nōto ("Hiroshima Notes", 1965). His short stories and essays include Seiteki ningen ("The Sexual Man", 1963) and Kōzui wa waga tamashii ni oyobi ("The Flood Invades My Spirit" 1973). The essay Okinawa nōto ("Okinawa Notes", 1970) led to a lawsuit by two military officers.[4] To his son, Hikari Ōe, a noted Japanese composer and musician, did he dedicate his famous Sora no kaibutsu Aguī ("Aghwee the Sky Monster", 1964) and Kojinteki na taiken ("A Personal Matter", 1964).[2][4]
Nominations
Among those considered in the running were the Belgian poet, playwright and novelist Hugo Claus, who writes in Flemish; the German novelist and playwright Peter Handke (awarded in 2019); the Dutch novelist Cees Nooteboom; the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer (awarded in 2011); the Filipino writer and essayist Nick Joaquin; the Japanese novelist Shūsaku Endō, and the Irish poet Seamus Heaney (awarded the following year).[3]
Nobel lecture
Ōe's Nobel lecture on 7 December 1994 entitled Aimai na Nihon no watashi ("Japan, the Ambiguous and Myself")
Ōe dedicated a large portion of his speech to his opinion of
References
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1994 nobelprize.org
- ^ a b Ōe Kenzaburō britannica.com
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ a b Kenzaburo Oe – Facts nobelprize.org
- ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1994".
External links
- 1994 Press release nobelprize.org
- Award ceremony speech nobelprize.org