Kōbō Abe

Kōbō Abe 安部 公房
Born	(1924-03-07)March 7, 1924 Kita, Tokyo, Japan
Died	January 22, 1993(1993-01-22) (aged 68) Tokyo, Japan Cause of death acute heart failure
Occupation	Writer
Influences Kafka

Kōbō Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kimifusa, March 7, 1924 – January 22, 1993) was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer and inventor. Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.

Early life

Abe was born in Kita, Tokyo and grew up in Mukden (now Shenyang) in Manchuria. His father was a physician who taught at a local medical college. Abe returned to Japan in 1941 and began studies at Tokyo Imperial University in 1943. He graduated in 1948 with a medical degree, on the condition that he would not practice. Having failed his exam several times, and already a successful author, this was attached to cultural notions of "saving face."

Career

He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei-shishū ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.

In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.

Awards

Among the honors bestowed on him were the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for The Crime of S. Karuma, the Yomiuri Prize in 1962 for Woman in the Dunes, and the Tanizaki Prize in 1967 for the play Friends. Kenzaburō Ōe stated that Abe deserved the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he himself had won (Abe was nominated multiple times).

Bibliography

Novels

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Translations available	Notes
1948	終りし道の標に Owarishi michi no shirube ni	At the Guidepost at the End of the Road
1954	飢餓同盟 Kiga doumei	Starving Unions
1957	けものたちは故郷をめざす Kemono tachi wa kokyou wo mezasu	Animals Are Going To Their Home
1958	第四間氷期 Dai yon kan pyouki	Inter Ice Age 4	E. Dale Saunders
1960	石の眼 Ishi no me	Stony Eyes
1962	砂の女 Suna no onna	Woman in the Dunes	E. Dale Saunders
1964	他人の顔 Tanin no kao	The Face of Another	E. Dale Saunders
1964	榎本武揚 Enomoto takeaki	Takeaki Enomoto
1967	燃えつきた地図 Moetsukita chizu	The Ruined Map	E. Dale Saunders
1973	箱男 Hako otoko	The Box Man	E. Dale Saunders
1977	密会 Mikkai	Secret Rendezvous	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1984	方舟さくら丸 Hakobune sakura maru	The Ark Sakura	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1991	カンガルー・ノート Kangaruu noto	Kangaroo Notebook	Maryellen Toman Mori
1994	飛ぶ男 Tobu otoko	The Flying Man		Incomplete

Collected short stories

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Translations available	Notes
1949	デンドロカカリヤ Dendorokakaria	Dendrocalia	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1949	夢の逃亡 Yume no toubou	The dream escape
1951	壁―S・カルマ氏の犯罪 Kabe―S・Karuma shi no hanzai	The Wall―The crime of S. Karma	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1951	飢えた皮膚 Ueta hihu	The Starving Skin
1951	闖入者 Chinnyu sha	Intruders
1952	水中都市 Suichu toshi	The underwater city
1956	R62号の発明 R62 gou no hatumei	Inventions by No.R62
1957	夢の兵士 Yume no heishi	The dream soldier	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1957	鉛の卵 Namari no tamago	The egg of Pb
1958	使者 Shisha	The special envoy	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1961	無関係な死 Mukankei na shi	An irrelevant death	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1966	カーブの向う Kabu no mukou	Beyond the Curve	Juliet Winters Carpenter
1966	人間そっくり Ningen sokkuri	The Double of Human Being

Plays

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Translations available	Notes
1955	制服 Seifuku	Uniforms
1955	どれい狩り Dorei gari	Slave Hunting
1955	快速船 Kaisoku sen	The Speedy Ship
1958	幽霊はここにいる Yuurei wa koko ni iru	The Ghost Is Here	Donald Keene	Collected in Three Plays by Kobo Abe
1965	おまえにも罪がある Omae nimo tsumi ga aru	You are also guilty
1967	友達 Tomodachi	Friends	Donald Keene
1967	榎本武揚 Enomoto takeaki	Takeaki Enomoto
1969	棒になった男 Bou ni natta otoko	The Man Who Turned Into A Stick	Donald Keene
1971	未必の故意 Mihitsu no koi	Involuntary Homicide	Donald Keene	Collected in Three Plays by Kobo Abe
1971	ガイド・ブック Gaido bukku	Guide Book
1973	愛の眼鏡は色ガラス Ai no megane wa iro garasu	Loving Glasses Are Colored Ones
1974	緑色のストッキング Midori iro no sutokkingu	Green Stockings	Donald Keene	Collected in Three Plays by Kobo Abe
1975	ウエー（新どれい狩り） Uē (Shin dorei gari)	Ue (Slave Hunting, New Version), The Animal Hunter	James R. Brandon
1976	案内人GUIDE BOOK II Annai nin	The Guide Man, GUIDE BOOK II
1977	水中都市GUIDE BOOK III Suichu toshi	The underwater city, GUIDE BOOK III
1978	S・カルマ氏の犯罪 S・Karuma shi no hanzai	The crime of S. Karuma
1979	仔象は死んだ Kozou wa shinda	An Elephant Calf Is Dead

Essays

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Translations available	Notes
1975	笑う月 Warau tsuki	The Laughing Moon

Poetry

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Translations available	Notes
1947	無名詩集 Mumei shishu	Poems of an unknown poet
1978	人さらい Hito sarai	Kidnap

External links

• Kobo Abe at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Kobo Abe at the Internet Book List
• Kobo Abe at the Internet Book Database of Fiction
• Kōbō Abe at the Internet Movie Database
• Abe Kobo at ibiblio.org
• LitWeb.net: Kobo Abe Biography
• The Modern Word: Kobo Abe
• Interview with Goro Masaki about Japanese Science Fiction, large part devoted to Kobo Abe's work
• Kōbō Abe's grave