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日齣生於日本愛媛縣喜多郡大瀨村。排行第三。20歲開始發錶作品並獲奬，1957年發錶小說＜死者的奢華＞，成為“芥川文學奬”候選作品，川端康成稱贊這篇小說顯露瞭作者“異常的纔能”。大江健三郎正式登上文壇。其重要作品有：＜飼育＞獲第39屆“芥川文學奬”，＜性的人＞，＜個人的體驗＞獲新潮文學奬，＜廣島劄記＞，＜萬延元年的足球隊＞，＜燃燒的綠樹＞獲意大利濛特羅文學奬等。1994年獲諾貝爾文學奬。