the day he himself shall wipe my tears away

Let us sing a song of cheer again, Happy Days are here again

It's already a couple of weeks ago that I finished reading kenzaburo's "the day he himself shall wipe my tears away", but I can't continue without posting at least one recomendation for this insane novel. This has been my first contact with the japanese writer and I'm very impressed. The chaotic style of the novel, out-of-order story telling and mixing points of view - disrespectful to the nature of paragraphs -, gives a terrible impression of the condition of the main character: a man lying in an hospital bed waiting to die due to a faked cancer while retelling the history of his youth. I have to heavily recommend this novel, but please take at least an overview of japanese history around the second world war. It will help a lot to understand the plot.

Kenzaburo is really brilliant. I would classify this novel in the same area as Ernesto Sabato's "On Heroes and Tombs" (orig: Sobre Heroes y Tumbas) both in terms of quality and darkness. Of course, congratulations also go to John Nathan for his impressive translation work.