Chinanews.com, March 13th (Chen Caixia) "Constructed a fantasy world with the power of poetry, condensed real life and fables, and portrayed the troubles and bewilderment of contemporary people." In 1994, the Nobel Prize in Literature Review Committee gave Japan The famous novelist Kenzaburo Oe wrote the award speech.

　　On March 13, 2023, news of Oe Kenzaburo's death came out.

The old man who loved peace all his life and made unremitting efforts for the cause of Sino-Japanese friendship passed away recently at the age of 88.

The scene of him bursting into tears next to the stone statue of Lu Xun has become a memory in the minds of many Chinese.

Data map: Kenzaburo Oe.

Won the Nobel Prize in Literature

"Anti-war" thinking becomes the core of creation

　　On January 31, 1935, Kenzaburo Oe was born in Ose Village, Kita County, Ehime County, Shikoku Island, Japan. He was the fourth child in his family.

In 1945, Japan was defeated in the Pacific War and the Second World War ended. That year, Kenzaburo Oe was ten years old.

　　Oe Kenzaburo showed literary talent since he was a child. At the age of 15, he entered the prestigious school taught by the famous Japanese writer Natsume Soseki - Ehime Prefectural Matsuyama High School.

Throughout his middle school years, he created nearly 40 poems, reviews, essays and short stories.

　　In 1954, Oe Kenzaburo was admitted to the University of Tokyo, and he began to emerge in the literary world when he was a student.

In 1958, at the age of 23, he published the short story "Bringing", which won the Japanese Akutagawa Literature Award.

Since then, he has officially entered the Japanese literary world as a professional writer and started a brilliant literary life.

Data map: Kenzaburo Oe.

　　Since then, Oe Kenzaburo's "Personal Experience" and "Sexual Man" won the Trendy Literature Award, and the long trilogy "Burning Green Tree" won the Italian Montero Literature Award.

In 1994, Oe Kenzaburo won the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the second Japanese writer to win the award after Kawabata Yasunari in 1968.

　　Oe Kenzaburo experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the military occupation of Japan by the US military in his childhood.

These memories planted the seeds of opposing wars of aggression in his young heart. Since then, his works have continued to reflect thoughts on peaceful diplomacy, social issues, and wars for the destiny of mankind.

　　Kenzaburo Oe writes on a wide range of topics, mostly set in remote villages far from the city, focusing on describing some special groups: lunatics, idiots, disabled children, etc. His creations are full of concern for people, politics, nuclear crisis, death and rebirth etc. Attention, arouse people's deep thinking and resonance.

　　The vast majority of Kenzaburo Oe's works of fiction are based on his personal life.

He once said, "My works originate from my personal life, but I try to reveal social issues."

Six visits to China, an inextricable relationship with China

"Idol" Lu Xun shed tears in front of the statue

　　"Japan invaded China, so the future of China and Japan should be peaceful and friendly. Otherwise, Japan's future will be unfortunate. Therefore, I hope that young people from China and Japan can communicate and cooperate better."

　　Kenzaburo Oe opposed the revival of militarism throughout his life and advocated world peace.

He has visited China six times and has a deep affection and connection with Chinese literature. He can be called a die-hard fan of Lu Xun.

　　Influenced by his mother since he was a child, Oe Kenzaburo loved reading Lu Xun's works, and he was particularly impressed by "Kong Yiji". He has repeatedly emphasized his deep understanding and admiration for the style and soul of Lu Xun's works.

Data map: Lu Xun's eldest grandson and Zhou Lingfei, president of the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation, visited the special exhibition of Lu Xun's manuscripts collected by the National Library of China.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang

　　"When I was twelve years old, the words about hope in Lu Xun's novel that I read for the first time have survived in my body for nearly sixty years," Oe Kenzaburo said.

"The blood of Chinese literature flows in my blood vessels, and I have the genes of Chinese literature in my body."

　　His mother expected him to write literary works like Lu Xun's "Hometown", and he responded, "I have been thinking about Lu Xun all my life... Without Lu Xun, Yu Dafu and other Chinese writers and their literary works, there would be no Nobel Prize winners in literature." The existence of Kenzaburo Oe."

　　In January 2009, Oe Kenzaburo visited the former residence of Lu Xun and the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing.

When the accompanying photographer arranged for a group of people to take a group photo in front of the marble statue of Mr. Lu Xun, Da Jiang, who was supposed to be sitting in the middle, disappeared. When everyone turned around to look for it, they found that the old writer was squatting on the right side of the statue, crying full face...

　　Kenzaburo Oe has also been friends with Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan for many years.

In February 2002, Kenzaburo Oe came to Mo Yan's hometown - Dalan Township, Gaomi, Shandong.

　　"Mr. Ojiang is a frank person. He has clear love and hate on major issues of right and wrong, and he is never ambiguous." Mo Yan once commented.

"He is the kind of writer who cares about the country and the people, takes the world as his own responsibility, and entangles his writing with major world issues, so his literature is strongly contemporary and realistic, and his literature is greater than literature. "

against the subversion of the pacifist constitution

"Guardian of Peace"

　　In recent years, the pace of Japan's military expansion and constitutional revision has alarmed people of insight represented by Kenzaburo Oe.

　　In June 2004, nine famous Japanese intellectuals and cultural figures including Oe Kenzaburo and philosopher Umehara Takeshi established the "Nine Articles Association". Through speeches and books, they defended Article 9 of the Constitution and opposed constitutional amendments.

They pointed out that Japan's constitution is facing a severe test. If the right to collective self-defense is allowed, the nature of the Self-Defense Forces will change.

　　"Exercising the right of collective self-defense means fighting with the United States. The United States is burning wars around the world, and Japan must avoid taking the lead with the United States." Kenzaburo Oe said in his speech.

"To prepare for war is to approach war, and if Article IX of the Constitution is changed, even the freedom to choose war or peace will be deprived."

Data map: Japanese people oppose constitutional revision.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Jian

　　In 2014, former Japanese Prime Minister Abe proposed the right of collective self-defense, saying that when countries with close ties to Japan are attacked by force, although it is not a direct attack on Japan, Japan can use force to fight back.

Oe Kenzaburo believes that this has completely subverted Japan's pacifist constitution.

　　Oe Kenzaburo combined thought, speech and action, united with those who defended the peaceful constitution at home and abroad, and elevated the constitutional protection movement to "peace ecology".

　　In his novel "Water Death", he used the image of killing the king in the cultural anthropology masterpiece "Golden Bough" written by British scholar Fraser, as a metaphor that people must kill the "Showa spirit" in their bodies, that is, the "spirit of supranationalism". .

　　Although some people in the younger generation of Japan have forgotten the memory of the war, and Japanese right-wing politicians still try to use the "peripheral threat theory" to break through the restrictions of the pacifist constitution, there are always progressive intellectuals like Kenzaburo Oe who use literature and Keep the peace in your own power.