Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: 4 Short Novels

The Nobel Prize–winning “master of the bizarre plunges the reader into a world of tortured imagination” in this four-novella collection (Library Journal).

In this startling quartet of his most provocative stories, the multiple prize-winning author of A Personal Matter reaffirms his reputation as “a supremely gifted writer” (The Washington Post).

In The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away, a self-absorbed narrator on his deathbed drifts off to the comforting strains of a cantata as he recalls a blistering childhood of militarism, sacrifice, humiliation, and revenge—a tale that is questioned by everyone who knew him. In Prize Stock, winner of the Akutagawa Prize, a black American pilot is downed in a Japanese village during World War II, where the local children see him as some rare find—exotic and forbidden. In Aghwee The Sky Monster, the floating ghost of a baby inexplicably haunts a young man on the first day of his first job. And in the title story, a devoted father believes he is the only link between his mentally challenged son and reality.

“A remarkable book. ” —The Washington Post

“Ōe is definitely one of the Modern Masters. ” —Seattlepi. com

© 2011 Grove Press (Ebook): 9780802195432

Translators: John Nathan

Release date

Ebook: May 16, 2011