Ōoka Shōhei

Ōoka Shōhei

Ōoka Shōhei ( Japanese 大 岡 昇平 ; born March 6, 1909 in Ushigome , Tokyo city (today: Shinjuku , Tokyo ); † December 25, 1988 in Tokyo) was a Japanese writer .

Life

Ōoka learned the French language in the Seijō high school and had early contact with the Japanese literary scene, such as the critics Kobayashi Hideo and Kawakami Tetsutarō and the poet Nakahara Chūya .

After studying literature at Kyoto Imperial University , he worked for the Kokumin Shimbun newspaper for a year . In 1938 he became a translator for the French-Japanese Society in Kobe. He also devoted himself to translating Stendhal's works into Japanese.

In 1944 he was drafted into the imperial army and sent to the front in Mindoro (Philippines). There he was taken prisoner by the Americans in early 1945. At the suggestion of Kobayashi Hideo, he processed his experiences in captivity in the novel Furyoki ( 俘虜 記 ), for which he was awarded the Yokomitsu Riichi Prize .

Ōoka published other novels, including Musashino Fujin ( 武 蔵 野 夫人 ), Hanakage ( 花影 ) and best known: Nobi ( 野火 ), as well as biographies of the writers Nakahara Chūya and Tominaga Tarō and a representation of the Battle of Leyte (1967-69), for the he received the Mainichi Art Prize in 1971 .

Nobi was published in German as Feuer im Grasland (Goverts, Stuttgart 1959, and Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1994, ISBN 3-458-16603-3 ).

Ōoka was awarded the Asahi Prize in 1975 for his contribution to post-war literature and for completing the complete edition of his works .

Web links

• Kamakura City, Kamakura´s Literary Figures - Biography

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Ōoka is the family name, Shōhei the first name.