The Silent Cry traces the uneasy relationship between two brothers who return to their ancestral home, a village in densely forested western Japan. While one brother tries to sort out the after-effects of a friend's suicide and the birth of a retarded son, the other embarks on a quixotic mission to incite an uprising among the local youth. Oe's description of this brother's messianic struggle to save a disintegrating local culture and economy from the depredations of a Korean wheeler-dealer called "The Emperor of the Supermarkets" is as chillingly pertinent today as it was when first published in 1967. Powerful and daring, The Silent Cry is a thoroughly compelling classic of world literature.

大江健三郎，1935年1月31日出生于日本爱媛县喜多郡大濑村。排行第三。20岁开始发表作品并获奖，1957年发表小说＜死者的奢华＞，成为“芥川文学奖”候选作品，川端康成称赞这篇小说显露了作者“异常的才能”。大江健三郎正式登上文坛。其重要作品有：＜饲育＞获第39届“芥川文学奖”，＜性的人＞，＜个人的体验＞获新潮文学奖，＜广岛札记＞，＜万延元年的足球队＞，＜燃烧的绿树＞获意大利蒙特罗文学奖等。1994年获诺贝尔文学奖。