WRITER

Kenzaburō Ōe

1935 - 2023

Photo of Kenzaburō Ōe

Icon of person Kenzaburō Ōe

Kenzaburō Ōe (大江 健三郎, Ōe Kenzaburō, 31 January 1935 – 3 March 2023) was a Japanese writer and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His novels, short stories and essays, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues, including nuclear weapons, nuclear power, social non-conformism, and existentialism. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Kenzaburō Ōe has received more than 984,309 page views. His biography is available in 94 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 83 in 2019). Kenzaburō Ōe is the 277th most popular writer (up from 371st in 2019), the 27th most popular biography from Japan (up from 40th in 2019) and the 8th most popular Japanese Writer.

Kenzaburō ōe is most famous for his novel, "A Pale View of the Hills," which was published in 1964. The novel tells the story of a woman who has lost her son and is struggling to come to terms with his death.

Memorability Metrics

  • 980k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 74.95

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 94

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.58

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.07

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Kenzaburō Ōe ranks 277 out of 7,302. Before him are Bartolomé de las Casas, Alcaeus of Mytilene, Jordanes, Marguerite Duras, Henrik Pontoppidan, and Alphonse Daudet. After him are Italo Calvino, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Paul Heyse, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Alfonso X of Castile.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1935, Kenzaburō Ōe ranks 10. Before him are Luciano Pavarotti, 14th Dalai Lama, Salman of Saudi Arabia, Woody Allen, José Mujica, and Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank. After him are Donald Sutherland, Françoise Sagan, Isao Takahata, Hussein of Jordan, Michel Aoun, and Arvo Pärt. Among people deceased in 2023, Kenzaburō Ōe ranks 15. Before him are Constantine II of Greece, Bobby Charlton, Jane Birkin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Giorgio Napolitano, and Martti Ahtisaari. After him are Just Fontaine, Fernando Botero, Lisa Marie Presley, Ted Kaczynski, Louise Glück, and Mohamed Al-Fayed.

Others Born in 1935

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Others Deceased in 2023

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kenzaburō Ōe ranks 27 out of 6,245. Before him are Emperor Jimmu (-711), Shinzō Abe (1954), Koji Tanaka (1955), Osamu Tezuka (1928), Hideki Tojo (1884), and Kanō Jigorō (1860). After him are Hattori Hanzō (1542), Sadako Sasaki (1943), Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892), Saigō Takamori (1828), Yayoi Kusama (1929), and Sasaki Kojirō (1583).

Others born in Japan

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Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Kenzaburō Ōe ranks 8. Before him are Matsuo Bashō (1644), Haruki Murakami (1949), Yukio Mishima (1925), Yasunari Kawabata (1899), Osamu Dazai (1909), and Murasaki Shikibu (973). After him are Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892), Natsume Sōseki (1867), Kazuo Ishiguro (1954), Kōbō Abe (1924), Sugawara no Michizane (845), and Sei Shōnagon (966).

Japanese born Writers

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