Any information on this book?

[chi]

I recently bought a book in Japanese to help further my studies and although I can make out some of the actual text inside, I can't figure out the front (my kanji skills are poor ), which means that I have no idea who it is by and cannot find out much about it. A competent translation of the blurb would also be helpful, here are some scans:
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/9210/ikanovx6.jpg
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/8833/ikano1lh0.jpg

[coco]

I typed a blurb from your images so that some one could help you easier.
Title
いかに木を殺すか
Author
大江健三郎
( He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994.)

The blurb
戦争末期の四国に山中に、莱ﾈ練の脱走兵が潜伏した。
憲兵隊の指揮下に大掛りな山狩りが行なわれるが、
彼らは姿を見せない。隊長はついに重大な決意をする。
森に火を放つ! 木を守るための、村の女たちの奇想天外な
作戦が展開されることになった……舞闕?ﾙか、
性の哄笑がこだまする「死」と「再生」の物語八篇。
解説・川西政明

[clay]

I would suggest shelving that book and getting a simpler reader to go along with where you are in your textbook. Then, a few years later, once you make good progress with kanji, pull it out again.

I actually did this very same thing. I found a novel when I first started out at a used bookstore. I don't know how they got a Japanese book! Of course I was eager to tear into it, but I quickly found out it was way too much for me.