Signed first edition in English of this semi-autobiographical novel by the Nobel Prize-winning Japanese author — the story of a man wrestling with the reality of his son being born with severe developmental disabilities.
Near fine in very good jacket.
Price: $1,500.00
"You're still young, probably you haven't lost sight of anything in this world that you can never forget, that's so dear to you you're aware of its absence all the time. Probably the sky a hundred yards or so above your head is still nothing more than sky to you. But all that means is that the storehouse happens to be empty at the moment."
Oë is the second Japanese author to have won the Nobel Prize in literature, though he faced controversy in Japan for his unconventional usage of the Japanese language. Addressing the criticisms in the opening to this book, his translator John Nathan writes: "He violates natural rhythms; he pushes the meanings of words to their furthest acceptable limits. In short, he is in the process of evolving a language all his own, a language which can accommodate the virulence of his imagination." Like much of Oë's writings, A PERSONAL MATTER was inspired in large part by the author's own son, Hikari, who was born with developmental disabilities. Decidedly uncommon signed.
First printing. New York: Grove Press, (1968). 8'' x 5.25''. Original brown cloth, gilt-lettered spine. In original unclipped ($5.00) color pictorial jacket designed by Kuhlman Associates. x, 214 pages. Signed by Oë to title page in Japanese and English. Jacket with light wear, few spots of soil. Minor sticker residue visible verso only. Book with touch of soil to text block edge, else crisp and clean.
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