SOURCE: Ōe, Kenzaburō, and John Nathan. “A Mythical Topos: A Dialogue.” Grand Street 14, no. 3 (winter 1996): 39-46.

In the following interview, Ōe discusses his relationship with his readers, translations of his works, and his intention of creating a new form of literary expression.

[Nathan]: As a very young man at Tokyo University in the late '50s, you published a series of stories which were astonishing in the originality of their language and the freshness of their vision. Many who read those stories, in their youth in Japan, still remember their impact. You managed to capture the complex confabulation of betrayal, anger, despair, and hope that your entire generation experienced, growing up in Japan in the post-World War II period. A huge readership hung on your every word for a period of twelve to fifteen years. Since then, you have continued to grow at an alarming rate, you have...