Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself

In December 1994, on the acceptance of only the second Nobel Prize awarded to a Japanese writer, Kenzaburo Oe gave a speech that was a message for mankind: one that pledged his own faith in tolerance and human decency, in the renunciation of war, and in the healing power of art--the power to calm and purify.

Other key addresses he has given elsewhere join the Nobel lecture in this volume, giving a wider view of the work of a literary activist who sees himself as one of a dying breed in the intellectual life of his own country.

Even those unfamiliar with his writing will be stimulated by the free-ranging thoughts of one of the century's most brilliant minds.

Included in the book are "Speaking on Japanese Culture before a Scandinavian Audience," "On Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature," "Japan's Dual Identity: A Writer's Dilemma," and "Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself."