The Changeling – Kenzaburō Ōe

The Nobel laureate is back and does not disappoint with The Changeling, an almost autobiographical roman à clef. The story is about two friends Kogito Choko, a prominent Japanese author and his friend Goro Hanawa a famous film-maker and Kogito’s friend and brother-in-law. Goro sends Kogito a bunch of cassette tapes detailing Goro’s thoughts about 40 years of their friendship and the events therein. One night the tape Kogito listens to has a disturbing outcome with Goro saying goodbye and that he is going to the other side now. Minutes later Kogito’s wife enters the room informs him that Goro has committed suicide. Thus begins Kogito’s journey for reasons and perhaps closure?

The book cannot be deemed easy to read with a non-linear line of story-telling throughout. Western audiences may even struggle with how much fact there is given that everyone now knows the story is mostly about Ōe himself and his famous filmmaker brother-in-law Juzo Itami. However, with the patience due to a book of this calibre a reader can happily settle into examining the layers of ‘meaning’ prevalent here. Even the epilogue provides its own twist, prompting a second and third read to re-examine the story.

Bao