A Personal Matter

Note: all Japanese names in this article are given in Western order, with surname last and given name first

A Personal Matter (個人的な体験, Kojinteki na taiken) is a novel by Japanese writer Kenzaburō Ōe (大江 健三郎 Ōe Kenzaburō). The novel is replete with imagery of death, decay and sex.

Written in 1964, the novel is dark, deeply personal, and semi-autobiographical. It tells the story of Bird, a man who must come to terms with the birth of his mentally disabled son.

Plot summary

Bird's son, like Ōe's, was born with a brain hernia. Bird tries to escape his responsibility for the child and his crumbling relationship with his wife - turning to alcohol and an old girlfriend. Bird is fired from his job teaching at a cram school in the process. He half attempts to kill the child, albeit indirectly, and is forced to make a decision as to whether or not he wants to keep the child.

Though the novel has a "happy" end, it should be considered in juxtaposition with the story Aghwee the Sky Monster (also by Ōe), in which a father faced with a similar decision makes a different choice . Ōe's son, Hikari Ōe, despite his disability has made something of a name for himself in Japan through musical composition.