Abstract
Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburô Ôé (1935-2023) wrote his books in his own handwriting throughout his life. The 19,000 pages of manuscripts deposited at the University of Tokyo were written according to the principle "erase and write", where traces of corrections and additions are clearly identifiable. Close examination of his manuscripts reveals visually interesting aspects, such as quotations in the original languages and colored corrections in pencil, as well as features peculiar to his handwriting that are not reproduced in the printed text. This style of writing is closely linked to the construction of his novels
The novel Le Jeu du siècle, published in 1967, occupies an indisputable place in his work, thanks to the construction of a mythical world and a style of writing that transcends time and space. In it, the author links the popular revolts of the Meiji era and the social movement of the 1960s, the indigenous and the urban, proposing a depth on the order of myth. By comparing unpublished manuscripts, forewords and the published text, we can not only follow the novel's genetic process, but also highlight the organic link between his writing style and his poetics.
