A Personal Matter

This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

A Personal Matter (Japanese: 個人的な体験; Kojinteki na taiken) is a novel by Japanese writer Kenzaburō Ōe. Written in 1964, the novel is semi-autobiographical and dark in tone. It tells the story of Bird, a man who must come to terms with the birth of his mentally disabled son.

Plot

Bird's son is born with a brain hernia, like Ōe's was. Bird tries to escape his responsibility for the child and his crumbling relationship with his wife, turning to alcohol and an old girlfriend. He is fired from his job teaching at a cram school in the process. He half attempts to kill the child, albeit indirectly, and is forced to decide whether he wants to keep the child.

Works by Kenzaburō Ōe

Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Aghwee the Sky Monster A Personal Matter The Silent Cry The Day He Himself Shall Wipe My Tears Away The Pinch Runner Memorandum The Game of Contemporaneity Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age! M/T and the Narrative About the Marvels of the Forest Somersault The Changeling The Beautiful Annabel Lee was Chilled and Killed

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