Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids

Kenzaburō Ōe · 1935–2023 · Japan

Originally Memushiri Kouchi (Japanese) · translated by Paul St. John Mackintosh and Maki Sugiyama

Why it matters

Reform-school boys evacuated to a remote village are abandoned there when plague strikes, and briefly build a feral, self-governing world before the adults return to punish it. Ōe's ferocious debut novel, wartime cruelty seen from the bottom.

At a glance

Visceral, propulsive prose from a young author already pushing at grammar and taboo.