Comprehensive information and links about Kobo Abe

Kobo Abe in Vintage International's English-language editions of his book, while Columbia University Press's edition of

Biography

Abe was born in Kita, Tokyo, grew up in then Mukden, (now Shen-yang) in Manchuria. His father was a physician that taught at the medical college. Abe went back 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 wouldn't practice. He was first published as a poet with (“The Road Sign at the End of the Street”) which established his reputation. He worked as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, but it wasn't until he published in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.

In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in adapting to film .

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 Cannes Film Festival.

(1964)

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

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.

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.

Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article- "Abe Kōbō"