A Personal Matter
Bird, a twenty-seven-year-old academic with dreams of escape to Africa, becomes the father of a baby born with a severe brain hernia. Ōe traps him in hospital corridors, in-laws, and his own cowardice, measuring the distance between the man Bird wants to be and the man he actually is when no one is applauding.John Nathan's translation for Grove Press preserves the claustrophobia and the dark, almost slapstick humor that make the novel bearable. The Africa fantasy functions as both escape hatch and moral test; when Bird finally turns back toward his family, the choice feels earned rather than sentimental. A book about parenthood that refuses to make parenthood look noble or even particularly natural, and that finds its compassion only after it has exhausted every possible escape.
