There's no better reading experience than going to the place where a text was written.
Kenzaburo OeRead
I am one of the writers who wish to create serious works of literature which dissociate themselves from those novels which are mere reflections of the vast consumer cultures of Tokyo and the subcultures of the world at large.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire to produce profound literature that moves away from superficial consumerism.
Kenzaburo Oe's quote emphasizes the importance of creating serious and meaningful literature that stands apart from the trivial narratives often influenced by consumer culture. He critiques the tendency of some modern novels to merely reflect the consumer-driven aspects of society, particularly in Tokyo and globally, and advocates for a deeper, more thoughtful exploration of the human experience in literature.
Themes
LiteratureConsumerismSerious WorksCultureWriting
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about contemporary literature and its influences.
More from Kenzaburo Oe
All quotes →Similar quotes
The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then queen died of grief is a plot.
E. M. ForsterRead
My father, if anything, first and last, was a man of words. He loved stories; he didn't live for stories, exactly, but I think he lived through stories. I think, like many writers, he loved stories about things he had experienced as much as, if not more than, he loved the experiences themselves.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The distinction between literary and genre fiction is stupid and pernicious. It dates back to a feud between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James. James won, and it split literature into two streams. But it's a totally false dichotomy.
George R. R. MartinRead
I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth: the mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about someone who lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself. --From the Introduction
Orson Scott CardRead
A novel is not moral in the usual sense of the word. It can be called moral when it shakes us out of our stupor and makes us confront the absolutes we believe in.
Azar NafisiRead
A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct; The language plain, and incidents well link'd; Tell not as new what ev'ry body knows; and, new or old, still hasten to a close.
William CowperRead