Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel prize-winning Japanese writer, dies aged 88

Kenzaburo Oe, a giant of Japanese writing and winner of the Nobel prize in literature, has died aged 88. Spanning fiction and essays, Oe’s work tackled a wide range of subjects from militarism and nuclear disarmament to innocence and trauma, and he became an outspoken champion for the voiceless in the face of what he regarded as his country’s failures. Regarded by some in Japan as distinctly western, Oe’s style was often likened to William Faulkner; in his own words, in his writing he would “start from my personal matters and then link it up with society, the state and the world”.

日本文学巨擘、诺贝尔文学奖得主大江健三郎去世，享年 88 岁。 大江健三郎的作品跨越小说和散文，涉及从军国主义、核裁军到纯真、创伤等广泛的主题，面对他所认为的“日本的失败”，他成为了一名对失语者直言不讳的支持者。在日本，一些人认为大江的作品具有明显的西方风格，他的风格经常被比作威廉·福克纳；用大江自己的话说，在他的写作中，他将“从我的个人事务开始，然后将其与社会、国家和世界联系起来”。

tips

span：n. 距离，小范围；vt. 跨越

fiction：小说

essay：随笔，短文

tackle：n. 抢断球，阻截铲球；v. 处理，铲球

militarism：军国主义

unclear disarmament：核裁军

innocence：无知，天真无邪

trauma：精神创伤，痛苦经历

regard：n. 关心，尊敬；v. 将...认为，看待（self-regarding 关心自己的；regardless 不管；regarding prep. 关于；regardful 留心的，深切注意的；regardant 注视的；disregard 忽视）

distinctly：显著地，明显地