Damn. I knew, and then temporarily forgot, that "The Nervous Set" was a beatnik / Beat Generation era (inspired) musical, but I failed to pick up on "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" being a direct lift from F. Scott Fitzgerald - who, while not a Beat author, can definitely be considered to be a Beat precursor. Heck, the whole Lost Generation was a direct influence, once you see it.

I love finding these interlocking webs betwixt different eras and movements. (And feel a little silly for not catching it sooner.)

How did I miss this? Kenzaburo Oe has died. I'll never forget reading books like "Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids" and "The Silent Cry".

His style was unique but "Nip the Buds" connected in my mind to Ödön von Horváth and his terrifying novel "Youth Without God", while the sense that the landscape in "The Silent Cry" was also the interior of the narrator's mind reminded me of Emily Brontë.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/13/kenzaburo-oe-nobel-prize-winning-japanese-writer-dies

#KenzaburoOe #Japan #literature #greatwriters #20thCliterature #日本文学 #JapaneseLiterature #odonvonhorvath #emilybronte #NobelPrize