false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178313337m/784003.jpg 535316 11 <div>These four novels display Oe&#8217;s passionate and original vision. Oe was ten when American jeeps first drove into the mountain village where he lived, and his literary work reveals the tension and ambiguity forged by the collapse of values of his childhood on the one hand and the confrontation with American writers on the other. The earliest of his novels included here, Prize Stock, reveals the strange relationship between a Japanese boy and a captured black American pilot in a Japanese village. Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness tells of the close relationship between an outlandishly fat father and his mentally defective son, Eeyore. Aghwee the Sky Monster is about a young man&#8217;s first job &#8212; chaperoning a banker&#8217;s son who is haunted by the ghost of a baby in a white nightgown. The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away is the longest piece in this collection and Oe&#8217;s most disturbing work to date. The narrator lies in a hospital bed waiting to die of a liver cancer that he has probably imagined, wearing a pair of underwater goggles covered with dark cellophane. </div> 25940 1977 Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels: The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away, Prize Stock, Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, Aghwee the Sky Monster total:249|5:81|4:110|3:47|2:10|1:1| 249 1007 411 23 5 2 false false Sun Oct 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 14:34:24 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 26 20:49:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 13:17:12 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 12:00:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 14 01:50:09 -0700 2008 Wed May 14 01:50:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 26 11:05:32 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 10 13:12:10 -0800 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Feb 18 14:44:26 -0800 2009 Sun Sep 06 20:40:25 -0700 2009
And, instead, t...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 09 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 15:43:45 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 09 14:02:37 -0800 2008
"Prize Stock": my favorite; a strange and powerful tale that really resonated with me. 5/5

"Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness": s...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Aug 11 21:31:13 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 21:45:45 -0700 2009
For maximum psychological effect, read the stories in this order:

Aghwee, The Sky Monster
Prize Stock
Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness
The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Awa...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 10:36:58 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 16:07:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Thu Nov 27 20:15:22 -0800 2008 Sat Aug 29 10:23:07 -0700 2009 Part of this short novel really had me and then it lost me. I intend to reread it immediately. I hate to admit it, but Oe isn't high on my Japanese author list right now.

Prize Stock
The war doesn't really come to the village until an ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Nov 29 11:22:17 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 29 11:23:11 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 16:31:16 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 00:16:22 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Nov 29 17:21:31 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 20:50:42 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Nov 08 15:48:28 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 08 16:06:40 -0800 2008
But for all the curious hipsters reading this review, here it is: more literal, less allegory, less weird-for-weird's-sake, more social commentary, more r...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 13 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Aug 27 09:39:35 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 13 13:56:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Apr 27 07:57:25 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 07:57:25 -0700 2008
the omnibus (6 novels?) is super cheap:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NWHP44?tag=... ]]> 2 0 true false Tue Oct 30 03:33:59 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 10 15:53:06 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 10 16:00:04 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Fri May 09 09:48:53 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 09:48:53 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Sep 09 13:44:15 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 13:45:42 -0700 2007 Oe's writing, like Nike Drake's music, is gets more and more powerful the quieter and more subtle his voice becomes.]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 15 15:20:42 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 15:23:27 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Jan 25 13:27:57 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 25 13:28:33 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=784003