SOURCE: "Abe Kōbō and Ōe Kenzaburö: The Search for Identity in Contemporary Japanese Literature," in Modern Japan: Aspects of History, Literature and Society, edited by W. G. Beasley, University of California Press, 1975, pp. 166-84.

Yamanouchi is a Japanese educator and author. Here, the critic details various literary methods employed in the works of Abe Köbö and Ōe and explores thematic parallels between the two authors, including alienation, isolation, and the search for identity.

The literary scene in Japan during the last five years or so has been eventful. The award to Kawabata Yasunari (1898-1972) of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968 brought Japanese literature into the international arena for the first time. Tanizaki Junichiro (1886-1965), who had been reputed to be a candidate for the Prize for many years, did not survive to witness the event. Kawabata himself ended his life by a rather anti-climactic suicide...