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{{Infobox writer
{{Infobox writer
| name            = Kōbō Abe
| name            = Kōbō Abe
| native_name      = 安部 公房
| native_name      = <center>安部 公房</center>
| native_name_lang = ja
| native_name_lang = ja
| image            = Kinema-Junpo-1967-January-Special-3.jpg
| image            = Kinema-Junpo-1967-January-Special-3.jpg
| image_size      =  
| image_size      =  
| caption          = Kōbō Abe in 1967
| caption          = <center>Kōbō Abe in 1967</center>
| birth_name      = Kimifusa Abe<br>安部 公房 ''Abe Kimifusa''
| birth_name      = Kimifusa Abe<br>安部 公房 ''Abe Kimifusa''
| birth_date      = {{birth date|1924|03|07}}<ref name=EB>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Dale H. |editor-last=Hoiberg |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Abe Kobo |edition=15th |year=2010 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. |volume=I: A-ak Bayes |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=978-1-59339-837-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/23 23–24] |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/23 }}{{irrelevant citation|date=April 2022}}</ref>
| birth_date      = {{birth date|1924|03|07}}<ref name=EB>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Dale H. |editor-last=Hoiberg |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Abe Kobo |edition=15th |year=2010 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. |volume=I: A-ak Bayes |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=978-1-59339-837-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/23 23–24] |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/23 }}{{irrelevant citation|date=April 2022}}</ref>
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}}


{{nihongo|'''Kimifusa Abe'''|安部 公房|''Abe Kimifusa''|7 March 1924–22 January 1993}}, known by his [[pen name]] {{nihongo|'''Kōbō Abe'''|安部 公房|''Abe Kōbō''}}, was a Japanese writer, playwright, and director. His 1962 novel ''[[The Woman in the Dunes (novel)|The Woman in the Dunes]]'' was made into an [[Woman in the Dunes|award-winning film]] by [[Hiroshi Teshigahara]] in 1964.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Allinson |first=Gary D. |url=http://archive.org/details/columbiaguidetom0000alli |title=The Columbia guide to modern Japanese history |date=1999 |publisher=New York : Columbia University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-231-11144-7}}</ref> Abe has often been compared to [[Franz Kafka]] for his [[Modernism|modernist]] sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Bolton |first=Christopher |title=Sublime voices : the fictional science and scientific fiction of Abe Kōbō |date=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-03278-1 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |oclc=261174053}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104044308/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/171702/Kobo-Abe ''New York Times''.]</ref><ref>Timothy Iles, ''Abe Kobo: an Exploration of his Prose, Drama, and Theatre'', EPAP, 2000.</ref> He died aged 68 of heart failure in Tokyo after a brief illness.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/23/obituaries/kobo-abe-68-the-skeptical-poet-of-an-uprooted-society-is-dead.html] Sterngold, James. ''Kobo Abe, 68, the Skeptical Poet Of an Uprooted Society, Is Dead''. The New York Times, 1993</ref>
{{nihongo|'''Kōbō Abe'''|安部 公房|''Abe Kōbō''}}, pen name of {{nihongo|'''Kimifusa Abe'''|安部 公房|''Abe Kimifusa''|7 March 1924 – 22 January 1993}}, was a [[Japanese author|Japanese writer]], playwright, and essayist. He is best known for his 1962 novel ''[[The Woman in the Dunes]]'', which was made into an [[Woman in the Dunes|award-winning film]] by [[Hiroshi Teshigahara]] in 1964.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Abe Kōbō {{!}} Japanese author {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abe-Kobo |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |first=Gary D. |last=Allinson |title=The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History |year=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780231111447 |page=[https://archive.org/details/columbiaguidetom0000alli/page/190 190] |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiaguidetom0000alli }}</ref> Abe has often been compared to [[Franz Kafka]], [[Samuel Beckett]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=SFE: Abe Kōbō |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/abe_kobo |access-date=2022-04-17 |website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref> and [[Albert Camus]] for his [[Modernism|modernist]] sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society.<ref>Timothy Iles, ''Abe Kobo: an Exploration of his Prose, Drama, and Theatre'', EPAP, 2000.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Davis|title=The Bedford Anthology of World Literature |year=2003 |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |location=Boston & New York |isbn=031240266X |page=[https://archive.org/details/bedfordanthology0006unse/page/914 914] |url=https://archive.org/details/bedfordanthology0006unse }}</ref>


==Biography==
==Biography==
Abe was born on March 7, 1924<ref name=EB/><ref name="Who Was Who">{{cite book|title=Who Was Who in America, 1993–1996, vol. 11|year=1996|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|location=New Providence, N.J.|isbn=0837902258|page=[https://archive.org/details/whowaswhoinameri11marq/page/1 1]|chapter=Abe, Kobo|url=https://archive.org/details/whowaswhoinameri11marq|url-access=registration}}</ref> in [[Kita, Tokyo]], Japan and grew up in Mukden (now [[Shenyang]]) in [[Manchuria]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=EB/> Abe's family was in Tokyo at the time due to his father's year of medical research in Tokyo.<ref name="FF">{{cite book |last=Shields |first=Nancy |url=https://archive.org/details/fakefishtheatero0000shie/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Fake Fish: The Theater of Kobo Abe |publisher=Weatherhill |year=1996 |isbn=9780834803541 |location=New York & Tokyo}}</ref> His mother had been raised in [[Hokkaido]], while he experienced childhood in Manchuria. This triplicate assignment of origin was influential to Abe, who told Nancy Shields in a 1978 interview, "I am essentially a man without a hometown.<ref name=":0" /> This may be what lies behind the 'hometown phobia' that runs in the depth of my feelings. All things that are valued for their stability offend me."<ref name=FF/> As a child, Abe was interested in insect-collecting, mathematics, and reading. His favorite authors were [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], [[Martin Heidegger]], [[Karl Jaspers]], [[Franz Kafka]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], and [[Edgar Allan Poe]].<ref name=EB/>
Abe was born in [[Kita, Tokyo|Kita]] in [[Tokyo]], [[Japan]] and grew up in Mukden (now [[Shenyang]]) in [[Manchuria]]; his family was in Tokyo at the time of his birth due to medical research his father was conducting. As a child, Abe was interested in [[insect collecting]], mathematics, and reading. His favorite authors were [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], [[Martin Heidegger]], [[Karl Jaspers]], [[Franz Kafka]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], and [[Edgar Allan Poe]].<ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Warren |editor-last=Carrier |title=Guide to World Literature |year=1980 |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |location=Urbana, IL |isbn=0814119492 |page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetoworldlite0000nati/page/14 15] |url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoworldlite0000nati/ }}</ref> When asked which Japanese writers he read, Abe reportedly once answered “none.”<ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Helen |editor-last=Mitsios |title=New Japanese Voices: The Best Contemporary Fiction from Japan |year=1991 |publisher=The Atlantic Monthly Press |location=New York |isbn=0871135221 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newjapanesevoice0000unse/page/n15 xiv]|url=https://archive.org/details/newjapanesevoice0000unse }}</ref>


[[File:Abe Kobo cooks jiaozi.JPG|thumb|left|Abe prepares [[gyōza]]]]
Abe returned to Tokyo briefly in April 1940 to study at [[Seijo Gakuen Junior High School and High School|Seijo High School]], but a lung condition forced his return to Mukden. He began his studies at [[Tokyo Imperial University]] in 1943 to study medicine, partially out of respect for his father, but also because "[t]hose students who specialized in medicine were exempted from becoming soldiers. My friends who chose the humanities were killed in the war."<ref name=FF/> Abe left the Tokyo University Medical School in October 1944, returning to his father's clinic in Mukden. That winter, his father died of [[Typhus|eruptive typhus]]. Returning to Tokyo with his father's ashes, Abe reentered the medical school, and began writing novellas and short stories during his last year in university. He graduated in 1948 with a medical degree, joking once that he was allowed to graduate only on the condition that he would not practice.
Abe returned to Tokyo briefly in April 1940 to study at [[Seijo Gakuen Junior High School and High School|Seijo High School]], but a lung condition forced his return to Mukden, where he read Jaspers, Heidegger, Dostoyevsky, and [[Edmund Husserl]]. Abe began to study medicine at [[Tokyo Imperial University]] in 1943, partially out of respect for his father, but also because "[t]hose students who specialized in medicine were exempted from becoming soldiers. My friends who chose the humanities were killed in the war."<ref name=FF/> He returned to Manchuria around the end of [[World War II]].<ref name=EB/> Specifically, Abe left the Tokyo University Medical School in October 1944, returning to his father's clinic in Mukden.<ref name=FF/> That winter, his father died of [[Typhus|eruptive typhus]]. Returning to Tokyo with his father's ashes, Abe reentered the medical school. Abe started writing novellas and short stories during his last year in university. He graduated in 1948 with a medical degree, once joking that he was allowed to graduate only on the condition that he would not practice.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=FF/>


In 1945 Abe married Machi Yamada, an artist and stage director, and the couple saw successes within their fields in similar time frames.<ref name=FF/> Initially, they lived in an old barracks within a bombed-out area of the city center. Abe sold pickles and charcoal on the street to pay their bills. The couple joined a number of artistic study groups, such as [[Yoru no Kai]] (Group of the Night or The Night Society) and ''Nihon Bungaku Gakko'' (Japanese Literary School). Their daughter, Abe Neri, was born in 1954.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HORAGAI: Abe Kobo |url=http://www.horagai.com/www/abe/xneri.htm |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=www.horagai.com}}</ref>
The end of the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese Empire]] in China in 1945 and the radical [[Japanese economic miracle|rebuilding of the Japanese state]] resulted, in effect, in the loss of both of his homes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bolton |first=Christopher |title=The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780231113144 |editor-last=Mostow |editor-first=Joshua S. |location=New York |pages=194 |chapter=Abe Kōbō}}</ref> Abe told Nancy Shields in a 1978 interview: "I am essentially a man without a hometown. This may be what lies behind the 'hometown phobia' that runs in the depth of my feelings. All things that are valued for their stability offend me."<ref name="FF">{{cite book |last=Shields |first=Nancy |title=Fake Fish: The Theater of Kobo Abe |publisher=Weatherhill: New York & Tokyo |year=1996 |isbn=978-0834803541}}</ref> His experiences in Manchuria also deeply influenced on his writing, perhaps most autobiographically in his 1957 novel ''[[Beasts Head for Home]]'', imprinting terrors and fever dreams that became surrealist hallmarks of his works.


As the postwar period progressed, Abe's stance as an intellectual pacifist led to his joining the [[Japanese Communist Party]], with which he worked to organize laborers in poor parts of Tokyo. Soon after receiving the [[Akutagawa Prize]] in 1951, Abe began to feel the constraints of the Communist Party's rules and regulations alongside doubts about what meaningful artistic works could be created in the genre of "socialist realism."<ref name=FF/> By 1956, Abe began writing in solidarity with the [[Poznań 1956 protests|Polish workers who were protesting against their Communist government]], drawing the Communist Party's ire. The criticism reaffirmed his stance: "The Communist Party put pressure on me to change the content of the article and apologize. But I refused. I said I would never change my opinion on the matter. This was my first break with the Party."<ref name=FF/>{{rp|35}}{{efn|Though see the different analysis in Schnellbächer, who states that Abe's "evaluation of the insurrections in Poland and Hungary is curiously helpless, in both cases mirroring the official communist reading"<ref>{{cite book | last=Schnellbächer | first=T. | title=Abe Kōbō, Literary Strategist: The Evolution of His Agenda and Rhetoric in the Context of Postwar Japanese Avant-garde and Communist Artists' Movements | publisher=Iudicium | series=Iaponia insula | year=2004 | isbn=978-3-89129-822-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cs8PAAAAYAAJ |pages=423–427}}</ref>}} The next year, Abe traveled to Eastern Europe for the 20th Convention of the Soviet Communist Party. He saw little of interest there, but the arts gave him some solace. He visited Kafka's house in Prague, read [[Rilke]] and [[Karel Čapek]], reflected on his idol [[Lu Xun]], and was moved by a [[Mayakovsky]] play in [[Brno]].<ref name=FF/>
In 1945 Abe married Machi Yamada, an artist and stage director, and the couple saw successes within their fields in similar time frames.<ref name=FF/> Initially, they lived in an old barracks within a bombed-out area of the city center. Abe sold pickles and charcoal on the street to pay their bills. The couple joined a number of artistic study groups, such as [[Yoru no Kai]] (Group of the Night or The Night Society) and ''Nihon Bungaku Gakko'' (Japanese Literary School). Their daughter, Neri Abe, was born in 1954.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HORAGAI: Abe Kobo |url=http://www.horagai.com/www/abe/xneri.htm |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=www.horagai.com}}</ref>


The [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Soviet invasion of Hungary]] in 1956 disgusted Abe. He attempted to leave the Communist Party, but resignations from the party were not accepted at the time. In 1960, he participated in the [[Anpo Protests]] against revision of the [[Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan|US-Japan Security Treaty]] as part of the pan-ideological Young Japan Society.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur, Nick, 1980-|title=Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo|year=2018|isbn=978-0-674-98850-7|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=177|oclc=1041937833}}</ref> He later wrote a play about the protests, ''The Day the Stones Speak'', which was staged several times in Japan and China in 1960 and 1961.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur, Nick, 1980-|title=Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo|year=2018|isbn=978-0-674-98850-7|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=179|oclc=1041937833}}</ref> In the summer of 1961, Abe joined a group of other authors in criticizing the cultural policies of the Communist Party. He was forcibly expelled from the party the following year.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur, Nick, 1980-|title=Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo|year=2018|isbn=978-0-674-98850-7|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=213–14|oclc=1041937833}}</ref> His political activity came to an end in 1967 in the form of a statement published by himself, [[Yukio Mishima]], [[Yasunari Kawabata]], and [[Jun Ishikawa]], protesting the treatment of writers, artists, and intellectuals in Communist China.<ref name=FF/> According to translator [[John Nathan]], this statement led to the falling-out between Abe and fellow writer [[Kenzaburō Ōe]].<ref name="nathan">{{cite book|title=Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere: A Memoir |first=John |last=Nathan |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2008}}</ref>
Abe was first published as a poet in 1947 with ''Mumei-shishū'' (''Poems of an unknown poet''), which he paid for himself, 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. When he received the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for ''The Crime of S. Karuma,'' his ability to continue publishing was confirmed.<ref name=FF/> Though he did much work as an [[avant-garde]] novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of ''[[The Woman in the Dunes (novel)|The Woman in the Dunes]]'' in 1962, for which he was awarded the [[Yomiuri Prize]], that Abe won widespread international acclaim.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />


His experiences in Manchuria were also deeply influential on his writing, imprinting terrors and fever dreams that became surrealist hallmarks of his works. In his recollections of Mukden, these markers are evident: "The fact is, it may not have been trash in the center of the marsh at all; it may have been crows. I do have a memory of thousands of crows flying up from the swamp at dusk, as if the surface of the swamp were being lifted up into the air."<ref name=FF/> The trash of the marsh was a truth of life, as were the crows, yet Abe's recollections of them tie them distinctively. Further experiences with the swamp centered around its use as a staking ground for condemned criminals with "[their] heads—now food for crows—appearing suddenly out of the darkness and disappearing again, terrified and attracted to us." These ideas are present in much of Abe's work.
As the postwar period progressed, Abe's stance as an intellectual pacifist led to his joining the [[Japanese Communist Party]], with which he worked to organize laborers in poor parts of Tokyo. Soon after receiving the [[Akutagawa Prize]], Abe began to feel the constraints of the Communist Party's rules and regulations alongside doubts about what meaningful artistic works could be created in the genre of "socialist realism."<ref name=FF/> By 1956, Abe began writing in solidarity with the [[Poznań 1956 protests|Polish workers who were protesting against their Communist government]], drawing the Communist Party's ire. The criticism reaffirmed his stance: "The Communist Party put pressure on me to change the content of the article and apologize. But I refused. I said I would never change my opinion on the matter. This was my first break with the Party."<ref name=FF/>{{rp|35}}{{efn|Though see the different analysis in Schnellbächer, who states that Abe's "evaluation of the insurrections in Poland and Hungary is curiously helpless, in both cases mirroring the official communist reading"<ref>{{cite book | last=Schnellbächer | first=T. | title=Abe Kōbō, Literary Strategist: The Evolution of His Agenda and Rhetoric in the Context of Postwar Japanese Avant-garde and Communist Artists' Movements | publisher=Iudicium | series=Iaponia insula | year=2004 | isbn=978-3-89129-822-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cs8PAAAAYAAJ |pages=423–427}}</ref>}} The next year, Abe traveled to Eastern Europe for the 20th Convention of the Soviet Communist Party. He saw little of interest there, but the arts gave him some solace. He visited Kafka's house in Prague, read [[Rilke]] and [[Karel Čapek]], reflected on his idol [[Lu Xun]], and was moved by a [[Mayakovsky]] play in [[Brno]].<ref name=FF/> The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 disgusted Abe. He attempted to leave the Communist Party, but resignations from the party were not accepted at the time. In 1960, he participated in the [[Anpo Protests]] against revision of the [[Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan|US-Japan Security Treaty]] as part of the pan-ideological Young Japan Society.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur, Nick, 1980-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1041937833|title=Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo|year=2018|isbn=978-0-674-98850-7|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=177|oclc=1041937833}}</ref> He later wrote a play about the protests, ''The Day the Stones Speak'', which was staged several times in Japan and China in 1960 and 1961.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur, Nick, 1980-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1041937833|title=Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo|year=2018|isbn=978-0-674-98850-7|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=179|oclc=1041937833}}</ref> In the summer of 1961, Abe joined a group of other authors in criticizing the cultural policies of the Communist Party. He was forcibly expelled from the party the following year.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kapur, Nick, 1980-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1041937833|title=Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo|year=2018|isbn=978-0-674-98850-7|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=213–14|oclc=1041937833}}</ref> His political activity came to an end in 1967 in the form of a statement published by himself, [[Yukio Mishima]], [[Yasunari Kawabata]], and [[Jun Ishikawa]], protesting the treatment of writers, artists, and intellectuals in Communist China.<ref name=FF/> According to translator [[John Nathan]], this statement led to the falling-out between Abe and fellow writer [[Kenzaburō Ōe]].<ref name="nathan">{{cite book|title=Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere: A Memoir |first=John |last=Nathan |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2008}}</ref>


==Career==
During the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director [[Hiroshi Teshigahara]] on the film adaptations of ''[[Pitfall (1962 film)|The Pitfall]],'' ''[[The Woman in the Dunes (film)|Woman in the Dunes]],'' ''[[The Face of Another (film)|The Face of Another]],'' and ''[[The Man Without a Map]]''. ''Woman in the Dunes'' received widespread critical acclaim and was released only four months after Abe was expelled from the Japanese Communist Party.
Abe was first published as a poet in 1947 with ''[[Mumei-shishū]]'' (''"Poems of an unknown poet"''), which he paid for himself,<ref name=EB/> 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.<ref name=EB/> When he received the Akutagawa Prize in 1951, his ability to continue publishing was confirmed.<ref name=FF/> Though he did much work as an [[avant-garde]] novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of ''[[The Woman in the Dunes (novel)|The Woman in the Dunes]]'' in 1962 that Abe won widespread international acclaim.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rogala |first=Jozef |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eR3kzmlQUCAC |title=A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English: A Select List of Over 2500 Titles |date=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-873410-90-5 |pages=3 |language=en}}</ref> In [[1970 in literature|1970]], Abe's ''[[Inter Ice Age 4]]'' became the first Japanese science fiction novel to appear in [[English language|English]], in a translation by [[United States|American]] scholar [[E. Dale Saunders]].<ref name="Extrapolation">"Japanese Science Fiction in English Translation" by John L. Apostolou, [[Extrapolation (journal)|Extrapolation]], volume 25, number 1, spring 1984, page 84.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/koboabe.htm |title=Kobo Abe |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121117013431/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/koboabe.htm |archivedate=17 November 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=John|first=Clute|title=Abe Kobo|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/abe_kobo|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|publisher=Orion Publishing Group}}</ref>


In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director [[Hiroshi Teshigahara]] on the film adaptations of ''[[Pitfall (1962 film)|The Pitfall]],'' ''[[The Woman in the Dunes (film)|Woman in the Dunes]],'' ''[[The Face of Another (film)|The Face of Another]],'' and ''[[The Man Without a Map]]''. ''Woman in the Dunes'' received widespread critical acclaim and was released only four months after Abe was expelled from the Japanese Communist Party.
Abe was awarded the [[Tanizaki Prize]] for his play ''Friends'' in 1967, and in 1971, he founded the Abe Studio, an acting studio in Tokyo.<ref name=FF/> Until the end of the decade, he trained performers and directed plays. The decision to found the studio came two years after he first directed his own work in 1969, a production of ''The Man Who Turned Into A Stick''. The production's sets were designed by Abe's wife, and [[Hisashi Igawa]] starred. Abe had become dissatisfied with ability of the theatre to materialize the abstract, reducing it to a passive medium. Until 1979, he wrote, directed, and produced 14 plays at the Abe Studio. He also published two novels, ''Box Man'' (1973) and ''Secret Rendezvous'' (1977), alongside a series of essays, musical scores, and photographic exhibits.<ref name=FF/> The Seibu Theater, an avant-garde theater in the new department store [[Parco (retailer)|Parco]], was allegedly established in 1973 specifically for Abe, though many other artists were given the chance to use it. The Abe Studio production of ''The Glasses of Love Are Rose Colored'' (1973) opened there. Later, the entirety of the Seibu Museum was used to present one of Abe's photographic works, ''An Exhibition of Images: I''.<ref name=FF/> The Abe Studio provided a foil for much of the contemporary scene in Japanese theater, contrasting with the [[Haiyuza Theatre Company|Haiyuza]]'s conventional productions, opting to focus on dramatic, as opposed to physical, expression.


In 1971, he founded the Abe Studio, an acting studio in Tokyo.<ref name=FF/> Until the end of the decade, he trained performers and directed plays. The decision to found the studio came two years after he first directed his own work in 1969, a production of ''The Man Who Turned Into A Stick''. The production's sets were designed by Abe's wife Machi<ref>{{Cite web | title=Author Spotlight: Kobo Abe - Literary Roadhouse | url=https://www.literaryroadhouse.com/author-spotlight-kobo-abe/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516123541/http://www.literaryroadhouse.com:80/author-spotlight-kobo-abe/ | access-date=2026-08-02 | archive-date=2018-05-16}}</ref>, and [[Hisashi Igawa]] starred. Abe had become dissatisfied with ability of the theatre to materialize the abstract, reducing it to a passive medium. Until 1979, he wrote, directed, and produced 14 plays at the Abe Studio. He also published two novels, ''Box Man'' (1973) and ''Secret Rendezvous'' (1977), alongside a series of essays, musical scores, and photographic exhibits.<ref name=FF/> The Seibu Theater, an avant-garde theater in the new department store [[Parco (retailer)|Parco]], was allegedly established in 1973 specifically for Abe, though many other artists were given the chance to use it. The Abe Studio production of ''The Glasses of Love Are Rose Colored'' (1973) opened there. Later, the entirety of the Seibu Museum was used to present one of Abe's photographic works, ''An Exhibition of Images: I''.<ref name=FF/>
In 1977 Abe was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=March 18, 2011}}</ref>


The Abe Studio provided a foil for much of the contemporary scene in Japanese theater, contrasting with the [[Haiyuza Theatre Company|Haiyuza]]'s conventional productions, opting to focus on dramatic, as opposed to physical, expression. It was a safe space for young performers, whom Abe would often recruit from the Toho Gakuen College in Chofu City, on the outskirts of Tokyo, where he taught. The average age of the performers in the studio was about 27 throughout the decade, as members left and fresh faces were brought in. Abe "deftly" handled issues arising from difference in stage experience.<ref name=FF/>
The novels ''The Ark Sakura'' and ''Kangaroo Notebook'' followed in 1984 and 1991, respectively. Kangaroo Notebook would prove to be Abe's final completed work of fiction. He died of heart failure in 1993, leaving a final work, ''The Flying Man'', incomplete.


In 1977 Abe was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=March 18, 2011}}</ref>
Kenzaburō Ōe has credited Abe and other modern Japanese authors for "[creating] the way to the [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]]", which he himself won.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sterngold|first1=James|title=Nobel in Literature Goes to Kenzaburo Oe of Japan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/14/books/nobel-in-literature-goes-to-kenzaburo-oe-of-japan.html?pagewanted=all|work=The New York Times|date=14 October 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Streitfeld|first1=David|title=Japanese Writer Oe Wins Nobel|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/10/14/japanese-writer-oe-wins-nobel/0de26b8e-6395-4b41-89e5-d7082828807e/|work=The Washington Post|date=14 October 1994}}</ref> Abe was mentioned multiple times as a possible recipient, but his early death precluded that possibility.<ref name=FF/>
 
==Awards==
Among the honors Abe received were the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for ''The Crime of S. Karuma,''<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bedfordanthology0006unse/page/915/mode/1up?view=theater&q=915 |title=The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Twentieth Century, 1900-The Present |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's |year=2003 |isbn=031240266X |editor-last=Davis |editor-first=Paul |location=Boston & New York |pages=915}}</ref> the [[Yomiuri Prize]] in 1962 for ''The Woman in the Dunes,'' and the [[Tanizaki Prize]] in 1967 for the play ''Friends.'' Kenzaburō Ōe credited Abe and other modern Japanese authors for "[creating] the way to the [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]]", which he himself won.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sterngold|first1=James|title=Nobel in Literature Goes to Kenzaburo Oe of Japan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/14/books/nobel-in-literature-goes-to-kenzaburo-oe-of-japan.html?pagewanted=all|work=The New York Times|date=14 October 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Streitfeld|first1=David|title=Japanese Writer Oe Wins Nobel|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/10/14/japanese-writer-oe-wins-nobel/0de26b8e-6395-4b41-89e5-d7082828807e/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=14 October 1994}}</ref> Abe was mentioned multiple times as a possible recipient, but his early death precluded that possibility.<ref name=FF/>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
<small>[Titles in brackets indicate a work that has yet to be translated into English]</small>
[Titles in brackets indicate a work that has yet to be translated into English]
===Novels===
===Novels===
*'''1948''' {{nihongo2|終りし道の標に}} (''Owarishi michi no shirube ni'') ['''''[[The Road Sign at the End of the Street]]''''']
*'''1948''' {{nihongo2|終りし道の標に}} (''Owarishi michi no shirube ni'') ['''''[[The Road Sign at the End of the Street]]''''']
Line 109: Line 104:


===Plays===
===Plays===
*'''????''' 時間の崖 (''Jikan no gake'') ''The Cliff of Time''
*'''????''' スーツケース (''Sūtsukēsu'') ''Suitcase''
*'''1955''' 制服 (''Seifuku'') ''Uniforms''
*'''1955''' どれい狩り (''Dorei gari'') ''Slave Hunting''
*'''1955''' 快速船 (''Kaisoku sen'') ''The Speedy Ship''
*'''1957''' 棒になった男 (''Bou ni natta otoko'') ''[[The Man Who Turned Into A Stick]]''
*'''1958''' 幽霊はここにいる (''Yuurei wa koko ni iru'') ''The Ghost Is Here''
*'''1965''' おまえにも罪がある (''Omae nimo tsumi ga aru'') ''You, Too, Are Guilty''
*'''1967''' 友達 (''Tomodachi'') ''Friends''
*'''1967''' 榎本武揚 (''Enomoto Takeaki'') ''Takeaki Enomoto''
*'''1971''' 未必の故意 (''Mihitsu no koi'') ''Involuntary Homicide''
*'''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''
*'''1975''' ウエー（新どれい狩り）Uē (Shin dorei gari) Ue (Slave Hunting, New Version), The Animal Hunter
*'''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===
===Essays===
*'''1944''' 詩と詩人 (意識と無意識) Shi to shijin [Ishiki to muishiki] "Poetry and Poets (Consciousness and the Unconscious)"
*'''1954''' 文学における理論と実践 (Bungaku ni okeru riron to jissen) "Theory and Practice in Literature"
*'''1955''' 猛獣の心に計算機の手を:文学とは何か (Mōjū no kokoro ni keisanki no te wo: Bungaku to ha nanika) "The Hand of a Calculator with the Heart of a Beast: What Is Literature?"
*'''1957''' アメリカ発見 (Amerika hakken) "Discovering America"
*'''1960''' 映像は言語の壁を破壊するか (Eizō ha gengo no kabe wo hakai suru ka) "Does the Visual Image Destroy the Walls of Language?"
*'''1960''' 芸術の革命:芸術運動の理論 (Geijutsu no kakumei: Geijutsu undō no riron) "Artistic Revolution: Theory of the Art Movement"
*'''1965''' 現代における教育の可能性:人間存在の本質に触れて (Gendai ni okeru kyōiku no kanōsei: Ningen sonzai no honshitsu ni furete) "Possibilities for Education Today: On the Essence of Human Existence"
*'''1966''' 隣人を超えるもの (Rinjin wo koeru mono) "Beyond the Neighbor"
*'''1968''' ミリタリールック (Miritarī rukku) "The Military Look"
*'''1968''' 異端のパスポート (Itan no pasupōto) "Passport of Heresy"
*'''1968''' 内なる辺境 (Uchi naru henkyō) "The Frontier Within"
*'''1969''' 続:内なる辺境 (Zoku: Uchi naru henkyō) "The Frontier Within, Part II"
*'''1975''' 笑う月 (Warau tsuki) "The Laughing Moon"
*'''1981''' 桜は異端諮問間の紋章 (Sakura wa itan shinmonkan no monshō) "The Dark Side of the Cherry Blossoms"
===Poetry===
===Poetry===
*'''1947''' 無名詩集 (''Mumei shishu'') ''Poems of an Unknown Poet''
*'''1978''' 人さらい (''Hito sarai'') ''Kidnap''


==Notes==
==Notes==
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[[index.php?title=Category:1993 deaths]]
[[index.php?title=Category:1993 deaths]]
[[index.php?title=Category:University of Tokyo alumni]]
[[index.php?title=Category:University of Tokyo alumni]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Magical realism writers]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Akutagawa Prize winners]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Akutagawa Prize winners]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Yomiuri Prize winners]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Yomiuri Prize winners]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Postmodern writers]]
[[index.php?title=Category:20th-century Japanese novelists]]
[[index.php?title=Category:20th-century Japanese novelists]]
[[index.php?title=Category:20th-century Japanese male novelists]]
[[index.php?title=Category:20th-century Japanese male novelists]]

Latest revision as of 22:07, 23 September 2026

The native form of this personal name is Abe Kōbō. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Kōbō Abe
安部 公房
Kōbō Abe in 1967
Born
Kimifusa Abe
安部 公房 Abe Kimifusa

(1924-03-07)March 7, 1924[1]
Kita, Tokyo, Japan
DiedJanuary 22, 1993(1993-01-22) (aged 68)
Tokyo, Japan
EducationSeijo High School
University of Tokyo
OccupationWriter
Notable workThe Woman in the Dunes
The Face of Another
The Box Man
MovementModernism
SpouseMachi Abe
ChildrenNeri Abe
AwardsAkutagawa Prize
Yomiuri Prize
Tanizaki Prize

Kōbō Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kōbō), pen name of Kimifusa Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kimifusa; 7 March 1924 – 22 January 1993), was a Japanese writer, playwright, and essayist. He is best known for his 1962 novel The Woman in the Dunes, which was made into an award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964.[2][3] Abe has often been compared to Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett,[4] and Albert Camus for his modernist sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society.[5][6]

Biography

Abe was born in Kita in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Mukden (now Shenyang) in Manchuria; his family was in Tokyo at the time of his birth due to medical research his father was conducting. As a child, Abe was interested in insect collecting, mathematics, and reading. His favorite authors were Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Edgar Allan Poe.[7] When asked which Japanese writers he read, Abe reportedly once answered “none.”[8]

Abe returned to Tokyo briefly in April 1940 to study at Seijo High School, but a lung condition forced his return to Mukden. He began his studies at Tokyo Imperial University in 1943 to study medicine, partially out of respect for his father, but also because "[t]hose students who specialized in medicine were exempted from becoming soldiers. My friends who chose the humanities were killed in the war."[9] Abe left the Tokyo University Medical School in October 1944, returning to his father's clinic in Mukden. That winter, his father died of eruptive typhus. Returning to Tokyo with his father's ashes, Abe reentered the medical school, and began writing novellas and short stories during his last year in university. He graduated in 1948 with a medical degree, joking once that he was allowed to graduate only on the condition that he would not practice.

The end of the Japanese Empire in China in 1945 and the radical rebuilding of the Japanese state resulted, in effect, in the loss of both of his homes.[10] Abe told Nancy Shields in a 1978 interview: "I am essentially a man without a hometown. This may be what lies behind the 'hometown phobia' that runs in the depth of my feelings. All things that are valued for their stability offend me."[9] His experiences in Manchuria also deeply influenced on his writing, perhaps most autobiographically in his 1957 novel Beasts Head for Home, imprinting terrors and fever dreams that became surrealist hallmarks of his works.

In 1945 Abe married Machi Yamada, an artist and stage director, and the couple saw successes within their fields in similar time frames.[9] Initially, they lived in an old barracks within a bombed-out area of the city center. Abe sold pickles and charcoal on the street to pay their bills. The couple joined a number of artistic study groups, such as Yoru no Kai (Group of the Night or The Night Society) and Nihon Bungaku Gakko (Japanese Literary School). Their daughter, Neri Abe, was born in 1954.[11]

Abe was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei-shishū (Poems of an unknown poet), which he paid for himself, 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. When he received the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for The Crime of S. Karuma, his ability to continue publishing was confirmed.[9] 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, for which he was awarded the Yomiuri Prize, that Abe won widespread international acclaim.[2][3]

As the postwar period progressed, Abe's stance as an intellectual pacifist led to his joining the Japanese Communist Party, with which he worked to organize laborers in poor parts of Tokyo. Soon after receiving the Akutagawa Prize, Abe began to feel the constraints of the Communist Party's rules and regulations alongside doubts about what meaningful artistic works could be created in the genre of "socialist realism."[9] By 1956, Abe began writing in solidarity with the Polish workers who were protesting against their Communist government, drawing the Communist Party's ire. The criticism reaffirmed his stance: "The Communist Party put pressure on me to change the content of the article and apologize. But I refused. I said I would never change my opinion on the matter. This was my first break with the Party."[9]: 35 [a] The next year, Abe traveled to Eastern Europe for the 20th Convention of the Soviet Communist Party. He saw little of interest there, but the arts gave him some solace. He visited Kafka's house in Prague, read Rilke and Karel Čapek, reflected on his idol Lu Xun, and was moved by a Mayakovsky play in Brno.[9] The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 disgusted Abe. He attempted to leave the Communist Party, but resignations from the party were not accepted at the time. In 1960, he participated in the Anpo Protests against revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty as part of the pan-ideological Young Japan Society.[13] He later wrote a play about the protests, The Day the Stones Speak, which was staged several times in Japan and China in 1960 and 1961.[14] In the summer of 1961, Abe joined a group of other authors in criticizing the cultural policies of the Communist Party. He was forcibly expelled from the party the following year.[15] His political activity came to an end in 1967 in the form of a statement published by himself, Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, and Jun Ishikawa, protesting the treatment of writers, artists, and intellectuals in Communist China.[9] According to translator John Nathan, this statement led to the falling-out between Abe and fellow writer Kenzaburō Ōe.[16]

During the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara on the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another, and The Man Without a Map. Woman in the Dunes received widespread critical acclaim and was released only four months after Abe was expelled from the Japanese Communist Party.

Abe was awarded the Tanizaki Prize for his play Friends in 1967, and in 1971, he founded the Abe Studio, an acting studio in Tokyo.[9] Until the end of the decade, he trained performers and directed plays. The decision to found the studio came two years after he first directed his own work in 1969, a production of The Man Who Turned Into A Stick. The production's sets were designed by Abe's wife, and Hisashi Igawa starred. Abe had become dissatisfied with ability of the theatre to materialize the abstract, reducing it to a passive medium. Until 1979, he wrote, directed, and produced 14 plays at the Abe Studio. He also published two novels, Box Man (1973) and Secret Rendezvous (1977), alongside a series of essays, musical scores, and photographic exhibits.[9] The Seibu Theater, an avant-garde theater in the new department store Parco, was allegedly established in 1973 specifically for Abe, though many other artists were given the chance to use it. The Abe Studio production of The Glasses of Love Are Rose Colored (1973) opened there. Later, the entirety of the Seibu Museum was used to present one of Abe's photographic works, An Exhibition of Images: I.[9] The Abe Studio provided a foil for much of the contemporary scene in Japanese theater, contrasting with the Haiyuza's conventional productions, opting to focus on dramatic, as opposed to physical, expression.

In 1977 Abe was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[17]

The novels The Ark Sakura and Kangaroo Notebook followed in 1984 and 1991, respectively. Kangaroo Notebook would prove to be Abe's final completed work of fiction. He died of heart failure in 1993, leaving a final work, The Flying Man, incomplete.

Kenzaburō Ōe has credited Abe and other modern Japanese authors for "[creating] the way to the Nobel Prize", which he himself won.[18][19] Abe was mentioned multiple times as a possible recipient, but his early death precluded that possibility.[9]

Bibliography

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

Novels

Short stories

  • 1949 唖むすめ ("Oshimusume") "The Deaf Girl"Template:Efn-la
  • 1949 デンドロカカリヤ ("Dendorokakariya") "Dendrocacalia"
  • 1949 夢の逃亡 ("Yume no toubou") ["The Dream Escape"]
  • 1950 赤い繭 ("Akai mayu") "The Red Cocoon"
  • 1950 洪水 ("Kouzui") "The Flood"
  • 1950 棒 ("Bou") "The Stick"
  • 1951 魔法のチョーク ("Mahou no chouku") "The Magic Chalk"
  • 1951 壁―S・カルマ氏の犯罪 ("Kabe―S・Karuma shi no hanzai") "The Wall: The Crime of S. Karma"
  • 1951 手 ("Te") "Hand"
  • 1951 闖入者 ("Chinnyusha") "Intruders"
  • 1951 詩人の生涯 ("Shijin no Shougai") "The Life of a Poet"
  • 1951 飢えた皮膚 ("Ueta hihu") ["The Starving Skin"]
  • 1952 ノアの方舟 ("Noa no hakobune") "Noah's Ark"
  • 1952 水中都市 ("Suichu toshi") ["The Underwater City"]
  • 1954 犬 ("Inu") "The Dog"
  • 1954 変形の記録 ("Henkei no kiroku") "Record of a Transformation"
  • 1954 "Shinda musume ga utatta" "Song of a Dead Girl"
  • 1956 R62号の発明 ("R62 gou no hatumei") ["Inventions by No. R62"]
  • 1957 誘惑者 ("Yuwakusha") "Beguiled"
  • 1957 夢の兵士 ("Yume no heishi") "The Dream Soldier"
  • 1957 鉛の卵 ("Namari no tamago") ["The Egg of Pb"]
  • 1958 使者 ("Shisha") "The Special Envoy"
  • 1960 賭け ("Kake") "The Bet"
  • 1961 無関係な死 ("Mukankei na shi") "An Irrelevant Death"
  • 1964 時の崖 ("Toki no gake") "The Cliff of Time"

Short story collections

In Japanese

  • 1951 壁 (Kabe) The Wall

In English

  • Beyond the Curve

Plays

  • ???? 時間の崖 (Jikan no gake) The Cliff of Time
  • ???? スーツケース (Sūtsukēsu) Suitcase
  • 1955 制服 (Seifuku) Uniforms
  • 1955 どれい狩り (Dorei gari) Slave Hunting
  • 1955 快速船 (Kaisoku sen) The Speedy Ship
  • 1957 棒になった男 (Bou ni natta otoko) The Man Who Turned Into A Stick
  • 1958 幽霊はここにいる (Yuurei wa koko ni iru) The Ghost Is Here
  • 1965 おまえにも罪がある (Omae nimo tsumi ga aru) You, Too, Are Guilty
  • 1967 友達 (Tomodachi) Friends
  • 1967 榎本武揚 (Enomoto Takeaki) Takeaki Enomoto
  • 1971 未必の故意 (Mihitsu no koi) Involuntary Homicide
  • 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
  • 1975 ウエー（新どれい狩り）Uē (Shin dorei gari) Ue (Slave Hunting, New Version), The Animal Hunter
  • 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

  • 1944 詩と詩人 (意識と無意識) Shi to shijin [Ishiki to muishiki] "Poetry and Poets (Consciousness and the Unconscious)"
  • 1954 文学における理論と実践 (Bungaku ni okeru riron to jissen) "Theory and Practice in Literature"
  • 1955 猛獣の心に計算機の手を:文学とは何か (Mōjū no kokoro ni keisanki no te wo: Bungaku to ha nanika) "The Hand of a Calculator with the Heart of a Beast: What Is Literature?"
  • 1957 アメリカ発見 (Amerika hakken) "Discovering America"
  • 1960 映像は言語の壁を破壊するか (Eizō ha gengo no kabe wo hakai suru ka) "Does the Visual Image Destroy the Walls of Language?"
  • 1960 芸術の革命:芸術運動の理論 (Geijutsu no kakumei: Geijutsu undō no riron) "Artistic Revolution: Theory of the Art Movement"
  • 1965 現代における教育の可能性:人間存在の本質に触れて (Gendai ni okeru kyōiku no kanōsei: Ningen sonzai no honshitsu ni furete) "Possibilities for Education Today: On the Essence of Human Existence"
  • 1966 隣人を超えるもの (Rinjin wo koeru mono) "Beyond the Neighbor"
  • 1968 ミリタリールック (Miritarī rukku) "The Military Look"
  • 1968 異端のパスポート (Itan no pasupōto) "Passport of Heresy"
  • 1968 内なる辺境 (Uchi naru henkyō) "The Frontier Within"
  • 1969 続:内なる辺境 (Zoku: Uchi naru henkyō) "The Frontier Within, Part II"
  • 1975 笑う月 (Warau tsuki) "The Laughing Moon"
  • 1981 桜は異端諮問間の紋章 (Sakura wa itan shinmonkan no monshō) "The Dark Side of the Cherry Blossoms"

Poetry

  • 1947 無名詩集 (Mumei shishu) Poems of an Unknown Poet
  • 1978 人さらい (Hito sarai) Kidnap

Notes

  1. ↑ Though see the different analysis in Schnellbächer, who states that Abe's "evaluation of the insurrections in Poland and Hungary is curiously helpless, in both cases mirroring the official communist reading"[12]

References

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  1. ↑ Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abe Kobo". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I: A-ak Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.[irrelevant citation]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Abe Kōbō | Japanese author | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Allinson, Gary D. (1999). The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780231111447.
  4. ↑ "SFE: Abe Kōbō". sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  5. ↑ Timothy Iles, Abe Kobo: an Exploration of his Prose, Drama, and Theatre, EPAP, 2000.
  6. ↑ Davis, Paul, ed. (2003). The Bedford Anthology of World Literature. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 914. ISBN 031240266X.
  7. ↑ Carrier, Warren, ed. (1980). Guide to World Literature. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. p. 15. ISBN 0814119492.
  8. ↑ Mitsios, Helen, ed. (1991). New Japanese Voices: The Best Contemporary Fiction from Japan. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press. p. xiv. ISBN 0871135221.
  9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 Shields, Nancy (1996). Fake Fish: The Theater of Kobo Abe. Weatherhill: New York & Tokyo. ISBN 978-0834803541.
  10. ↑ Bolton, Christopher (2003). "Abe Kōbō". In Mostow, Joshua S. (ed.). The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 194. ISBN 9780231113144.
  11. ↑ "HORAGAI: Abe Kobo". www.horagai.com. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  12. ↑ Schnellbächer, T. (2004). Abe Kōbō, Literary Strategist: The Evolution of His Agenda and Rhetoric in the Context of Postwar Japanese Avant-garde and Communist Artists' Movements. Iaponia insula. Iudicium. pp. 423–427. ISBN 978-3-89129-822-0.
  13. ↑ Kapur, Nick, 1980- (2018). Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, Massachusetts. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-674-98850-7. OCLC 1041937833.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Kapur, Nick, 1980- (2018). Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, Massachusetts. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-674-98850-7. OCLC 1041937833.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Kapur, Nick, 1980- (2018). Japan at the crossroads : conflict and compromise after Anpo. Cambridge, Massachusetts. pp. 213–14. ISBN 978-0-674-98850-7. OCLC 1041937833.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Nathan, John (2008). Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster.
  17. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  18. ↑ Sterngold, James (October 14, 1994). "Nobel in Literature Goes to Kenzaburo Oe of Japan". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ Streitfeld, David (October 14, 1994). "Japanese Writer Oe Wins Nobel". The Washington Post.
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