Greatest WWII Literary Works by Japanese Writers

[kurage]

Hello!
I'm doing a school project about Japanese literature after WWII and I wanted to find out what are in your opinion the greatest WWII Literary Works by Japanese Writers.

[tonywalt]

Haruki Murakami

[kev67]

The only one I know of is An Artist in a Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro, although I am not sure Ishiguro can strictly be regarded as Japanese. The book is set just after WWII. The main character used his artistic talent to create propaganda before the war and is now feeling bad about it.

[TheFifthElement]

I think many people would mention Mishima Yukio as one of the greatest post war writers. Also Oe Kenzaburo. I couldn't take to either, but they are both excellent writers.

My own personal favourites would be: Abe Kobo (The Woman and the Dunes, The Kangaroo Notebook - one of the oddest books I have ever read), Dasai Osamu (The Setting Sun, No Longer Human) and Ibuse Masuji, whose account of the Hiroshima bombing and its fall out called Black Rain is one of the best works I've ever read. Endo Shusaku (Silence) and Ooha Shohei (Fire on the Plains) are also said to be very good, though I haven't read works by either as yet.

Murakami is an obvious choice, although his work I think is a little hit and miss. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is excellent, however.

[ralfyman]

Try the names given here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_literature#Post-war_literature

[JBI]

Mishima.

[Pierre Menard]

Yasunari Kawabata is another.

[T.C. Seiko]

I second Endo Shusaku and Kobo Abe. And I'd add Inoue Yasushi - a personal favorite of mine.