View source for Kazushige Abe

{{Short description|Japanese writer}}
{{Eastern name order|Abe Kazushige}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Kazushige Abe
| native_name      = 阿部 和重
| native_name_lang = ja
| image            = 
| image_size       = 
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = 23 September 1968
| birth_place      = Higashine City,<br>Yamagata Prefecture
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| genre            = 
| occupation       = Writer
| language         = [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| education        = 
| spouse           = Mieko Kawakami
| children         = 
| movement         =
| notable_works    = 
| awards           = Gunzo Prize for New Writers<br>Noma Literary New Face Prize<br>Sei Ito Literature Prize<br>Mainichi Publishing Culture Award<br>Akutagawa Prize<br>Tanizaki Prize
}}
{{nihongo|'''Kazushige Abe'''|阿部 和重|Abe Kazushige|born 23 September 1968}} is a [[Japane|Japanese]] novelist and film critic. He was born in Higashine City, Yamagata Prefecture. His wife is [[Mieko Kawakami]], who is also a novelist.

Abe's family ran a bakery. There was a bookstore directly across the street from his family’s home, where during elementary school he discovered a copy of Bruce Lee's writings on martial arts. Abe attempted to recreate Lee's fighting techniques and develop his own martial art, but succeeded only in making a verbatim copy of Lee's book. However, this experience would later influence Abe's use of quotations and other references in his own works. Next to the bookstore was a movie theater, and since he initally preferred movies to novels, his father—who was also a film enthusiast—often took him there.

Abe dropped out of Yamagata Prefectural Tateoka High School during his second year and moved to Tokyo, enrolling in the Japanese Institute of the Moving Image with the goal of becoming a film director. During his time at the Institute, Nagaharu Yodogawa, who served as a special lecturer, told him, “If you’re going to study film, you should also study forms of expression other than film,” and encouraged him to start reading novels. Abe graduated from film school in 1990. After working as an assistant director, he changed his focus to writing, making his debut in 1994 with ''American Night'', for which he won the Gunzo New Writers’ Award.

He garnered attention in 1997 with ''Individual Projection''. He has published numerous works that are highly conscious of narrative form, while weaving in contemporary topics such as terrorism, the Internet, and lolicon. In 2004, he won the Seiji Ito Literary Award and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for ''Sinsemia'', and in 2005, he won the Akutagawa Prize for "Grand Finale." Several of his works, including ''Sinsemia'', share a common setting centered on “Kamimachi”; in interviews, he has spoken of his vision for the “Kamimachi Saga,” which concluded with ''Orga(ni)sm''.

== Works ==
[Titles in brackets indicate a work that has yet to be translated into English] 

* '''1994''' アメリカの夜  (''Amerika no Yoru'') [''American Night''] 
* '''1995''' ABC戦争 (''ABC Sensou'') [''The ABC Wars'']
* '''1997''' インディヴィジュアル・プロジェクション (''Indivijuaru Purojekushon'') [''Individual Projection'']
* '''1997''' 公爵婦人邸の午後のパーティー (''Koushakufujin-tei no Gogo no Paatii'') [''The Evening Party at the Princess's House'']
* '''1999''' 無情の世界 (''Mujou no Sekai'') [''This Cruel World'']
* '''2001''' ニッポニアニッポン ''[[Nipponia Nippon (novel)|Nipponia Nippon]]''
* '''2003''' シンセミア (''Shinsemia'') [''Sinsemilla'']
* '''2005''' グランド・フィナーレ (''Gurando Finare'') [''Grand Finale'']
* '''2006''' プラスティック・ソウル (''Purasutikku Souru'') [''Plastic Soul'']
* '''2006''' ミステリアス・セッティング (''Misuteriasu Settingu'') ''[[Mysterious Setting]]''
* '''2010''' ピストルズ (''Pisutoruzu'') [''Pistols'']
* '''2012''' クエーサーと13番目の柱 (''Kuesa to Jusanbanme no Hashira'')
* '''2013''' □ しかく (''Shikaku'') [Little More]
* '''2013''' ''Derakkusu Edishon'' (''Deluxe Edition'')
* '''2014''' キャプテンサンダーボルト (''Kyaputen Sandaboruto'') [''Captain Thunderbolt''] with [[Kotaro Isaka]]
* '''2019''' オーガニズム (''Oganizumu'') [''Orga(ni)sm'']
* '''2021''' ブラック・チェンバー・ミュージック (''Burakku Chenba Myujikku'') [''Black Chamber Music'']
* '''2022''' ''Arutimetto Edishon'' [''Ultimate Edition'']
*??? 馬小屋の乙女 "The Maiden in the Manger"

== Awards ==
* 1994 – 37th [[Gunzo Prize for New Writers]]: ''Amerika no Yoru''
* 1999 – 21st [[Noma Literary Prize|Noma Literary New Face Prize]]: ''Mujo no sekai''
* 2004 – 15th Sei Ito Literature Prize: ''Shinsemia''
* 2004 – 58th [[Mainichi Publishing Culture Award]]: ''Shinsemia''
* 2005 – 132nd [[Akutagawa Prize]]: ''Gurando Finare''
* 2010 – 46th [[Tanizaki Prize]]: ''Pisutoruzu''

== See also ==
*[[Japanese literature]]
*[[List of Japanese authors]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.jlpp.go.jp/en/works/02_03.html Synopsis of ''Sinsemillas'' (''Shinsemia'')] at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project) {{in lang|en}}
*[http://no-sword.jp/blog/2005/02/grand-finale-by-abe-kazushige.html http://no-sword.jp/blog/2005/02/grand-finale-by-abe-kazushige.html] {{in lang|en}}

{{Akutagawa Prize winners}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abe, Kazushige}}
[[index.php?title=Category:Japanese writers]]
[[index.php?title=Category:1968 births]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Living people]]
[[index.php?title=Category:People from Higashine, Yamagata]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Writers from Yamagata Prefecture]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Akutagawa Prize winners]]


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