A Personal Matter

13 hrs. 36 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Kenzaburō Ōe

Narrator Alexander Kotov

Description

A generation raised with the idea that one must sacrifice oneself for the emperor, yet never ended up going to war, will have to learn how to live with guilt for a duty not fulfilled. They will need to find their place in postwar Japan, where the old ideals have collapsed and society is gripped by nihilism and apathy. The main character of the book “The Late Youth,” like his peers, grew up believing that it is every Japanese person’s duty to go to war and die for the emperor. But by the time he became an adult, the war ended in Japan’s defeat, and the emperor lost his divine status. Now this generation—too late for heroic death—must learn to live with shame over the duty they failed to fulfill to their homeland and search for their path in a world where moral guidelines have vanished and old ideals have been destroyed. But how can you preserve hope when the surrounding reality is defined by indifference and nihilism?