Ōe, Kenzaburō, 1935-2023. Chūgaeri

Somersault (宙返り Chūgaeri) is a 1999 novel by Kenzaburō Ōe. It is about two former leaders of a religious cult as they try to establish a new movement, a possible nuclear catastrophe, and religious sects in everyday society. It received inspiration from the Aum Shinrikyo cult and their Tokyo subway sarin attack of 1995. The English translation, by Philip Gabriel, first appeared in 2003. It was Ōe's first novel since he won the 1994 literature Nobel Prize. It was published in the United States by Grove Press. The book was published in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Books.