Kōbō Abe

Kōbō Abe (安部公房, Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe (Abe Kimifusa, March 7, 1924 – January 22, 1993) was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer and inventor.

His name is romanized as Kobo Abe in Vintage International's English-language editions of his book, while Columbia University Press offers Three Plays by Kōbō Abe.

Biography

Abe was born in Kita, Tokyo and grew up in Mukden (now Shen-yang) in Manchuria. His father was a physician who taught at the 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. He was first published as a poet with Mumei Shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") in 1947. The next year he published his first novel, Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street") which established his reputation. He worked as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, but it was not until he published The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.

In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in adapting to film 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 in his innovative performance methods and directed plays.

Abe's surreal and often nightmarish explorations of the individual in contemporary society earned him comparisons to Kafka and his influence extended well beyond Japan, particularly with the success of Woman in the Dunes at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.

Kenzaburō Ōe was one of Abe's friends. Oe said he thinks Abe's novels are beyond his work and are as great as Kafka's and Faulkner's. Oe also said that Abe should've received the Nobel Prize in Literature that he himself had won, though the latter had been nominated many times. Critics likened his literary style to Alberto Moravia for its modernist influence.

Summaries of selected works

Inter Ice Age IV (1959)

A man involved with an agency that is developing methods to predict the future discovers a secret plan that will phase out "humans."

The Ruined Map (1967)

In order to locate a timid woman's missing husband, a private investigator abandons his own identity.

Friends (1967)

A salaryman's life is taken over by a group claiming to be his family.

The Box Man (1973)

A man who lives inside a cardboard box loses hold of reality. melodie loves you (:

Secret Rendezvous (1977)

An ambulance takes away a man's wife in the middle of the night, in spite of the fact that nothing seemed to have been wrong with her. The man goes on an odyssey as he investigates her disappearance, becoming increasingly and bizarrely involved in the hospital where she was probably taken.

The Ark Sakura (1984)

Fearing imminent nuclear holocaust, an obese survivalist named "Mole" builds a sprawling, technologically well-equipped shelter out of an abandoned quarry. Challenges mount as the insect salesman and pair of shills that he has recruited as crew members start making demands and an elderly brigade of street-sweepers threatens invasion.

Kangaroo Notebook (1991)

After seeking treatment for a patch of radish sprouts discovered growing on his legs, an office supply worker is taken on a journey through various surreal locales by a hospital bed with a mind of its own.

List of books available in English

• Inter Ice Age 4 (第四間氷期, Daiyon kampyōki) 1959 (translated by E. Dale Saunders)
• Woman in the Dunes (砂の女, Suna no onna) 1962 (translated by E. Dale Saunders)
• The Face of Another (他人の顔, Tanin no kao) 1964 (translated by E. Dale Saunders)
• The Ruined Map (燃え尽きた地図, Moetsukita chizu) 1967 (translated by E. Dale Saunders)
• Friends (play) (友達, Tomodachi) 1967
• The Man Who Turned Into A Stick (play) (棒になった男, Bō ni natta otoko)
• The Box Man (箱男, Hako otoko) 1973 (translated by E. Dale Saunders)
• Kangaroo Notebook (カンガルー・ノート) ca 1973 - 1977(translated by Maryellen Toman Mori)
• Secret Rendezvous (密会, Mikkai) 1977 (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter)
• The Ark Sakura (方舟さくら丸, Hakobune Sakura-maru) 1984 (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter)
• Beyond the Curve (short stories) 1990 (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter)
• Three Plays by Kobo Abe 1993 (translated by Donald Keene)

Novels

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Comments
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
1959	第四間氷期 Dai yon kan pyouki	Inter Ice Age IV
1960	石の眼 Ishi no me	Stony Eyes
1962	砂の女 Suna no onna	Woman in the Dunes
1964	他人の顔 Tanin no kao	The Face of Another
1965	榎本武揚 Enomoto takeaki	Takeaki Enomoto
1967	燃えつきた地図 Moetsukita chizu	The Ruined Map
1973	箱男 Hako otoko	The Box Man
1977	密会 Mikkai	Secret Rendezvous
1984	方舟さくら丸 Hakobume sakura maru	The Ark Sakura
1991	カンガルー・ノート Kangaruu noto	Kangaroo Notebook
1994	飛ぶ男 Tobu otoko	The Flying Man	Incomplete

Collected short stories

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Comments
1951	壁 Kabe	The wall
1952	飢えた皮膚 Ueta hihu	The starving skin
	闖入者 Chinnyu sha	Intruders
1956	R62号の発明 R62 gou no hatumei	Inventions by R62
1964	無関係な死 Mukankei na shi	The unrelated death
1967	人間そっくり Ningen sokkuri	The double of human being
1968	夢の逃亡 Yume no toubou
1975	笑う月 Warau tsuki	The laughing Moon

Plays

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Comments
1955	制服 Seifuku	Uniforms
	どれい狩り Dorei gari	Slave huntting
	快速船 Kaisoku sen	The speedy ship
1958	幽霊はここにいる Yuurei wa koko ni iru	Here is a ghost
1965	おまえにも罪がある Omae nimo tsumi ga aru	You are also guilty
1967	友達 Tomodachi	Friends
	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
1971	未必の故意 Mihitsu no koi	Willful negligence
	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
1975	ウエー（新どれい狩り） Uē (Shin dorei gari)	OOay(Slave hunting, new version )
1976	案内人GUIDE BOOK II Annai nin	The guide man, GUIDE BOOK II
1978	人さらい Hito sarai	Kidnap
	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 are dead

Poetry

Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Comments
1947	無名詩集 Mumei shishu	Unknown poetry

References

• Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article- "Abe Kōbō".
• Abe Kobo: an Exploration of his Prose, Drama, and Theatre by Timothy Iles. Published by EPAP, 2000.

Prizes

• 1951 Akutagawa Prize - The Crime of S. Karuma, (Kabe S. Karuma shi no hanzai,「壁 S・カルマ氏の犯罪」)
• 1962 Yomiuri Prize - Woman in the Dunes
• 1967 Tanizaki Prize - Friends, (Tomodachi, 友達)

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
• 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