Nobel Prize-Winning Author Kenzaburo Oe Dies at 88

Tokyo, March 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese author Kenzaburo Oe, who won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, died of old age on March 3. He was 88.

He was the second Japanese to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, after Yasunari Kawabata in 1968.

Born in present-day Uchiko, a town in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, Oe made his debut as an author while studying French literature at the University of Tokyo. He won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for "Prize Stock" in 1958.

He became a standard-bearer for literature of the post-World War II democratic generation, earning public acclaim with works such as his 1961 novel "Seventeen," which depicted the thoughts and feelings of a right-wing youth, and "Sexual Humans," published in 1963.

After the birth of his eldest son, Hikari, who has a mental disability, Oe released "A Personal Matter" in 1964. The novel was based on his personal experiences and served as the basis for the "Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age!" collection of short stories.

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