2012 Student Research Conference:
25th Annual Student Research Conference
25th Annual Student Research Conference
The Grotesque Realism of Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry
Jacob S. Waddell
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
Kenzaburo Oe's The Silent Cry (1967) is the story of a broken family that returns to their ancestral village. The novel uses highly stylized and grotesque imagery to emphasize the unity between nature and humanity. By specifically focusing the grotesque on the human body, Oe forces us to separate our idealized views of ourselves with reality. I will seek to examine the ways in which Oe accomplishes this division based on the Rabelaisian ideas of Sanroku Yoshida and Oe himself.
Keywords: Kenzaburo Oe, Japan, grotesque, realism, The Silent Cry
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 109-4
Location: VH 1408
Time: 8:45