A Comparative Study On The Views Of War In G(u|")nter Grass’s And Kenzaburo Oe’s Literature

Seventy years has passed since the World War II ended. But such problems as "How did the World War II begin?" "Why did Germany and Japan go on a fascist way?", still confuse the people in our times. Giinter Grass and Kenzaburo Oe, two Nobel Prize winners in literature, have been trying to give answers to the problems in a literary way, and calling for permanent peace for decades.Last year Gunter Grass passed away which caused a great loss to the contemporary world literature. Meanwhile, Kenzaburo Oe, an outstanding Japanese writer, is still writing regardless of his age in his eighties. He is also devoted to the Sino-Japan friendship, continuing making efforts for the cultural and social communication between China and Japan.The thesis is divided into four parts.The first part introduces German and Japanese writers’ war roles during the WWII and the recognition about war in German and Japanese cultural circles after the WWII. More details indicate that the different views on war in Germany and Japan derive from the very different roles of writers in the fascist regimes, and the historical progress for the defense of peace and democracy in the post-war time.Subsequently, the second part shows a relation between the war memories of Gunter Grass and Kenzaburo Oe and their views on war. Living in the similar personal and social atmosphere, they share terrible memories of the WWII so they made good friends with each other.Similarities and differences of the war views between them are demonstrated in the third and fourth parts. It is significant to understand that both of them criticize the fascist origins in their own countries and agree with existentialism, and however, their opinions about utopia differentiate which exerts an influence on their anti-war narration, ways of fairy tale and ways of myths.At last the thesis reiterates the ideal of human beings calling for peace and abandoning war, making it clear that the possibility that literature defends peace and admiring the two writers’ continuous efforts.