The Catch
“Peace is the time when sons bury fathers, war is the time when fathers bury sons” – Herodotus
Kenzaburo Oe is a very interesting figure. He was 23 years old when he received the most prestigious and largest Japanese literary prize – “Akutagawa” (in 1958) for the novella “The Catch,” and in 1994 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. That same year he was appointed recipient of the Japanese Order of Culture. He refused this award because it’s given by the emperor. Oe stated: “I don’t recognize any authority, any value that’s higher than democracy,” which is why he received threats.
The birth of his son (Hikari), who was born with brain damage, greatly influenced his writing style. The heroes of his works rarely have names, but most often use terms and designations (He, Father, Woman, Negro, Man and similar). And by the way he studied French literature at the prestigious University of Tokyo. The amalgam of all this is a very unique and powerful writing style.
His work (novella) “The Catch” has just under 60 pages. Is it worth reading something that has so few pages it can be read with afternoon coffee?
Let’s see…
The plot of the work “The Catch” is set in a remote mountain Japanese village, toward the end of World War II. A boy, his younger brother and their faithful friend Mizukuchi, try to have something we couldn’t even call childhood – absolute poverty reigns (they live off what their father catches), they live in a room that’s part of a warehouse where silkworms were once raised, and for toys they have a stick and a stone, and their pets are wild dogs. But children as children, try to find pieces of happiness and moments of carefree when they can. However, one event changes the life of the entire village from its roots.
An American plane crashes near the village, and the villagers catch the wounded dark-skinned pilot whom we’ll henceforth (without intention to offend) call as in the novel – the negro. For various reasons, the prisoner can’t be taken to the authorities to the nearby town, so they “keep” him in the village. The villagers mistrustful and cautious, the boy’s father keeps him at gunpoint whenever he needs to give him food.
But for the children, he’s an unreal attraction with his appearance. And over time, the children bond with him, and the adults become indifferent. They feed him, he plays with the children, sleeps in his cell, eventually fixes some things. In translation, he became a kind of domestic animal. A pet.
Until one tragic misunderstanding happens.
“The Catch” manages to convey to us a moving story about the cruelty of war from a perspective that isn’t so much described in literature – children of a remote (Japanese) poor village in the period (toward the end of) World War II. There where hunger, hopelessness, survival from day to day and accepting that death hovers over people and a bomb can wipe them out at any moment reign – children find beauty in simple things and try to understand the strange world of adults. And the appearance of one stranger (and enemy at that), for the children creates a completely new world of adventure, as only children can create.
But, the cruelty of war is inevitable…
“The Catch” shows us all events from the boy’s perspective (to whom, like almost all heroes of his works, the author didn’t assign a name) and everything is permeated with simple descriptions.
The writing style is such that the novella reads incredibly easily and quickly (and given the number of pages, you’ll finish it quickly too).
“The Catch” is an unusually touching and moving novella that manages with a small number of pages to “hit” the reader’s emotions quite effectively and show the horrors of World War II from a somewhat unusual perspective.
And because of that it’s worth your time.
And you, dear reader, have you had the opportunity to read any work by this Nobel laureate? 😊
(Note: the work “The Catch” can be found in bookstores as a separate edition, but also as part of a collection titled “Four Novellas”)
Book price: Tanesi | Japanorama | Vulkan | Makart
