Kōbō Abe

The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman, and together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side through this Sisyphean of tasks.

Kobo Abe, the internationally acclaimed author of Woman in the Dunes, combines wildly imaginative fantasies and naturalistic prose to create narratives reminiscent of the work of Kafka and Beckett.In this eerie and evocative masterpiece, the nameless protagonist gives up his identity and the trappings of a normal life to live in a large cardboard box he wears over his head. Wandering the streets of Tokyo and scribbling madly on the interior walls of his box, he describes the world outside as he sees or perhaps imagines it, a tenuous reality that seems to include a mysterious rifleman determined to shoot him, a seductive young nurse, and a doctor who wants to become a box man himself. The Box Man is a marvel of sheer originality and a bizarrely fascinating fable about the very nature of identity.Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders.

Like an elegantly chilling postscript to The Metamorphosis, this classic of postwar Japanese literature describes a bizarre physical transformation that exposes the duplicities of an entire world. The narrator is a scientist hideously deformed in a laboratory accident–a man who has lost his face and, with it, his connection to other people. Even his wife is now repulsed by him. His only entry back into the world is to create a mask so perfect as to be undetectable. But soon he finds that such a mask is more than a disguise: it is an alternate self–a self that is capable of anything. A remorseless meditation on nature, identity and the social contract, The Face of Another is an intellectual horror story of the highest order.

Of all the great Japanese novelists, Kobe Abe was indubitably the most versatile. With The Ruined Map, he crafted a mesmerizing literary crime novel that combines the narrative suspense of Chandler with the psychological depth of Dostoevsky.Mr. Nemuro, a respected salesman, disappeared over half a year ago, but only now does his alluring yet alcoholic wife hire a private eye. The nameless detective has but two clues: a photo and a matchbook. With these he embarks upon an ever more puzzling pursuit that leads him into the depths of Tokyo’s dangerous underworld, where he begins to lose the boundaries of his own identity. Surreal, fast-paced, and hauntingly dreamlike, Abe’s masterly novel delves into the unknowable mysteries of the human mind.Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders.

From the acclaimed author of Woman in the Dunes comes Secret Rendezvous, the bizarrely erotic and comic adventures of a man searching for his missing wife in a mysteriously vast underground hospital.From the moment that an ambulance appears in the middle of the night to take his wife, who protests that she is perfectly healthy, her bewildered husband realizes that things are not as they should be. His covert explorations reveal that the enormous hospital she was taken to is home to a network of constant surveillance, outlandish sex experiments, and an array of very odd and even violent characters. Within a few days, though no closer to finding his wife, the unnamed narrator finds himself appointed the hospital’s chief of security, reporting to a man who thinks he’s a horse. With its nightmarish vision of modern medicine and modern life, Secret Rendezvous is another masterpiece from Japan’s most gifted and original writer of serious fiction.

Tells of a fat hermit whose fears of a nuclear disaster lead him to build a shelter inside a mountain and equip it with everything necessary for the survival of a small community

In the last novel written before his death in 1993, one of Japan's most distinguished novelists proffered a surreal vision of Japanese society that manages to be simultaneously fearful and jarringly funny. The narrator of Kangaroo Notebook wakes on morning to discover that his legs are growing radish sprouts, an ailment that repulses his doctor but provides the patient with the unusual ability to snack on himself. In short order, Kobo Abe's unraveling protagonist finds himself hurtling in a hospital bed to the very shores of hell. Abe has assembled a cast of oddities into a coherent novel, one imbued with unexpected meaning. Translated from the Japanese by Maryellen Toman Mori.

English, Japanese (translation)

A collection of works including such stories as "An Irrelevant Death," "The Dream Soldier," "Dendrocalia," "The Special Envoy," and "The Crime of S. Karma"

"The Woman in the Dunes"One of the premier Japanese novels of the twentieth century, this masterpiece combines the essence of myth, suspense, and the existential novel. In a remote seaside village, Niki Jumpei, a teacher and amateur entomologist, is held captive with a young woman at the bottom of a vast sand pit where, Sisyphus-like, they are pressed into shoveling off the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten the village."The Face of Another"The narrator is a scientist hideously deformed in a laboratory accident–a man who has lost his face and, with it, his connection to other people. Even his wife is now repulsed by him. His only entry back into the world is to create a mask so perfect as to be undetectable. But soon he finds that such a mask is more than a disguise: it is an alternate self–a self that is capable of anything. A remorseless meditation on nature, identity and the social contract, an intellectual horror story of the highest order.

Lo siniestro en el universo de Kobo Abe merodea en lo cotidiano, observa desde atrás del lugar común, o del progreso prometedor, como al acecho. Es un siniestro incorpóreo, ubicuo. Abe somete los valores corrientes a una mirada satírica y perspicaz que expone la lógica siniestra que subyace en ellos. Tan vanguardista en la estética como en la filosofía social, fue precursor en tratar temas que hoy son prioridad: los daños al ecosistema, la ceguera producto de la sobreinformación mediática, el aislamiento corrosivo que vive el individuo en las grandes urbes. Personajes nombrados por su inicial ignoran su participación en una gramática mayor, aunque el lector sí es invitado a reconsiderar la visión. Aun cuando opera la pura casualidad, toparse con un cadáver sin querer genera respuestas que terminan por enredar al inocente en una extraña (pero no ajena) culpabilidad. Escritos hace medio siglo, estos cuentos impactan por su actualidad, y uno los lee con urgencia, acaso con desvelo.

La noticia de que acaba de despegar un cohete espacial con destino a Marte llena de zozobra al creador del programa radiofónico Hola, marciano. El temor de que la realidad pueda desbaratar su universo de ficción y poner en peligro el modesto modus vivendi con el que intenta asegurar la estabilidad de su familia, hace tambalear el precario equilibrio del periodista, cada vez más paralizado por la angustia y la pérdida de la autoestima. La inesperada visita de un oyente que asegura ser un marciano idéntico al ser humano desencadena un desconcertante e incómodo diálogo en el que, al modo beckettiano, se transita fácilmente de la lucidez al delirio. Con un impecable manejo de la alegoría y de la sátira, Kobo Abe se servirá de las irritantes palabras de estos dos seres extraviados para enfrentar al lector a algunas de las obsesiones que lo han emparentado con Kafka o Camus: el problema de la identidad y el desasosiego de no saber quién se es ni quién es el otro, el cuestionamiento de la noción de realidad o la crisis de supervivencia del ser humano frente a las estructuras dislocadas y caóticas del mundo contemporáneo. El lector, magnetizado por la tensión dramática, espera, como en un relato policial, que el suspense vaya cediendo hasta revelar el desenlace: todo esto será la consecuencia de la fábula vencida por la realidad o de la realidad vencida por la fábula? . Con Idéntico al ser humano, Kobo Abe se distancia del color local que caracteriza la tradición literaria japonesa e incorpora a algunos de los grandes temas de la modernidad, como la ficción científica, la seducción por el lenguaje de las matemáticas y los sistemas clasificatorios o la reflexión sobre la convivencia en las ciudades impersonales, vertiginosas e inhumanas de nuestro tiempo.

An absurdist drama about the gradual destruction of the individual. A family enters the apartment of a young man and announces that they will save him from his loneliness by living with him. Slowly, they destroy everything, in the cheerful psychotic name of "brotherly love".

До збірки творів відомого сучасного японського письменника Кобо Абе ввійшли три романи: "Жінка в пісках", "Чуже обличчя", "Спалена карта". Гострота сюжету поєднується в них з філософською глибиною, за емоційно насиченою, цікавою розповіддю приховано широку алегорію.У центрі цих романів стоїть проблема особи й суспільства, відчуження людини в світі та її боротьба за свою справжню сутність.

Estos relatos complementan y amplían el mundo narrativo de Kobo Abe presentado en Los cuentos siniestros. Con ingenio y sutileza Abe combina las exploraciones temáticas de la ficción científica y los recursos expresivos de la narrativa policial para generar situaciones tan absurdas como misteriosas. Empleados, oficinistas, suicidas, maleantes, marcianos, lunáticos, dictadores, científicos y desocupados, que por lo general funcionan como pícaros o vividores, enfrentan un espectro de tensiones y problemas que muchas veces encuentran salidas tramposas que solo llevan al caos.Parodia e ironía para revelar la lógica perversa de ciertos sistemas y las paradojas de una época signada por la guerra fría, la carrera espacial, la búsqueda de soluciones a cualquier precio o la búsqueda del confort en medio del congestionamiento, los ruidos y la contaminación de las ciudades altamente pobladas.Una oportunidad más para descubrir, como señala Gregory Zambrano en su prólogo, la magia narrativa de Kobo Abe y comprobar por qué el escritor alcanzó en vida su consagración como un autor clásico en la literatura japonesa del siglo XX.

Book by Kobo Abe

Following his nation’s defeat in the Pacific War, Kuki Kyuzo, a Japanese youth, struggles to return home to Japan from Manchuria. What follows is a wild journey involving drugs, smuggling, chases, and capture. Kyuzo finally makes his way back to Japan but finds himself unable to disembark. His nation remains inaccessible to him, and now he questions its very existence. Beasts Head for Home is an acute novel of identity, belonging, and the vagaries of human behavior from an exceptional Japanese modern author.

French

Kobo Abe (1924-1993) was one of Japan's most prominent contemporary writers. Born in Japan but raised in Manchuria, he is perhaps best known for his 1962 novel, The Woman in the Dunes, though he was also a prominent screenwriter, producer and director. Like the works of Beckett and Ionesco, Abe's plays address universal and contemporary concerns, often with an eye for the absurd.

ცნობილი იაპონელი მწერლის, დრამატურგისა და სცენარისტის, კობო აბეს ნამდვილი სახელი და გვარია აბე კიმიფუსა. ის დაიბადა 1924 წელს ტოკიოში. ბავშვობა მანჯურიაში გაატარა და ლექსების წერაც მცირე ასაკში მანჯურიაშივე დაიწყო. სკოლის დამთავრების შემდეგ ის კვლავ ტოკიოში დაბრუნდა და იქვე დარჩა სიცოცხლის ბოლომდე (გარდაიცვალა 1992 წელს). კობო აბეს სახელთან დაკავშირებულია XX საუკუნის 50-იანი წლების იაპონური ხელოვნების აღმავლობა. მისი შემოქმედების ძირითადი თემაა კონფლიქტი ადამიანსა და საზოგადოებას შორის, გაუცხოება, სულიერი მარტოობის პრობლემა და თანამედროვე მსოფლიოში ადამიანის თვითდამკვიდრების მცდელობა. სწორედ ამ თემებზე ააგო მან რომანები: „ქალი ქვიშაში“, „კედელი“, „უცხო სახე“, „ადამიანი-ყუთი“... „ქალი ქვიშაში“, კობო აბეს ერთ-ერთი ყველაზე ცნობილი რომანი, მრავალ ენაზე ითარგმნა და არაერთი ლიტერატურული პრემიით დაჯილდოვდა. მის მიხედვით რეჟისორმა ჰიროში ტეშიგაჰარამ 60-იან წლებში ფილმიც გადაიღო. რომანის მარტოსული გმირი, ქვიშაში ჩაფლულ სოფელში „დატყვევებული“ უბრალო მწერების შემგროვებელი ბედს არ ურიგდება და ქვიშის ტყვეობიდან თავის დახსნას ყველანაირი ხერხით ცდილობს, რათა ნორმალურ ცხოვრებას და საკუთარ საქმეს დაუბრუნდეს, განსხვავებით „ადამიანი ყუთის“ მთავარი გმირისაგან, რომელიც საზოგადოებას და მასთან დაკავშირებულ პრობლემებს გაურბის, ყუთში იკეტება და ასეთი უჩვეულო ფორმით გამოხატავს პროტესტს გარე სამყაროს მიმართ.

Tres caballeros —uno ciego, otro sin una pierna, el tercero manco— reciben a un representante del pueblo. El hombre, de cuerpo magro, viene a exponer una extraña petición: que se ponga fin al canibalismo.

Abe Kobo (1924–1993) was one of Japan's greatest postwar writers, widely recognized for his imaginative science fiction and plays of the absurd. However, he also wrote theoretical criticism for which he is lesser known, merging literary, historical, and philosophical perspectives into keen reflections on the nature of creativity, the evolution of the human species, and an impressive range of other subjects. Abe Kobo tackled contemporary social issues and literary theory with the depth and facility of a visionary thinker. Featuring twelve essays from his prolific career—including "Poetry and Poets (Consciousness and the Unconscious)," written in 1944, and "The Frontier Within, Part II," written in 1969—this anthology introduces English-speaking readers to Abe Kobo as critic and intellectual for the first time. Demonstrating the importance of his theoretical work to a broader understanding of his fiction—and a richer portrait of Japan's postwar imagination—Richard F. Calichman provides an incisive introduction to Abe Kobo's achievements and situates his essays historically and intellectually.

Capullo rojo es la tercera parte de la novela corta La pared, del autor japonés Kobo Abe, publicada originalmente en 1951 con el nombre de Akai mayu. En este breve cuento, cuando la noche empieza a caer, un hombre se pregunta todos los días por qué no tiene una casa adonde llegar a descansar. De pronto, el hombre piensa que en realidad sí la tiene, sólo que la olvidó. Decidido a encontrarla, recorre las calles, pero mientras avanza todo a su alrededor va cambiando de aspecto hasta que algo extraño sucede. Este texto refleja la voz auténtica y los profundos cuestionamientos filosóficos que caracterizan la obra de Abe, rasgos que han hecho perdurar su literatura hasta nuestros días y que muchos críticos literarios han asociado con el universo de Kafka. Abe sorprende a sus lectores con historias desconcertantes, como en este caso, donde se da la metamorfosis de un hombre en capullo, situación que parte del absurdo para hablarnos de la búsqueda de identidad, una búsqueda incansable que se materializa en la ausencia de un hogar, pero que también da cuenta de la desigualdad presente en las sociedades modernas, otro rasgo de su literatura. Las potentes ilustraciones de Mauricio Gómez Morin, con juegos de perspectivas que le dan dinamismo al recorrido de la lectura, recrean el espíritu opresivo del cuento y contienen elementos simbólicos de la estética japonesa que tendrán que ser revelados por los lectores. Con un dominio del scratch, Gómez Morin crea composiciones sugerentes que muestran la identidad gráfica que ha desarrollado como artista plástico, ilustrador, diseñador y editor de arte durante más de 35 años. Esta es la segunda obra que se integra a la nueva colección de libros álbum dirigidos específicamente a jóvenes y adultos: Resonancias.

شاید درک مسئله برای کسی که بومی این جزیره نیست سخت باشه.

ცნობილი იაპონელი მწერლის, კობო აბეს ფანტასტიკური მოთხორბა "გამყონვარების მეოთხე პერიოდი" სრულიად ახალი მოვლენა იყო იაპონურ ლიტერატურაში. მისი ძირითადი თემაც უჩვეულოა - ესაა მომავლის შემოჭრა დღევანდელობაში, საშუალო ადამიანის ფსიქოლოგია ამ კონფლიქტის ფონზე. გამოცემაში შესულია:* გამყინვარების მეოთხე პერიოდი* ტოტალოსკოპი

Во второй том четырехтомного собрания сочинений японского писателя Кобо Абэ вошли его знаменитый роман "Сожженная карта" (1967) и получивший особый резонанс в России роман "Человек-ящик" (1973).

Ճապոնացի նշանավոր գրող Կոբո Աբեի (1924-1993) «Ավազուտների կինը» վեպը դրամատիրական հասարակարգում մարդու մենակության և օտարացման մասին է։ Հասարակությունից փախչել հնարավոր չէ։ Եվ նրա հիմքերը փոխելով է միայն, որ հնարավոր է փոխել նաև մարդու գոյության պայմանները։

1. Abe Kōbō, Żołnierz ze snu (przeł. Henryk Lipszyc)2. Dazai Osamu, Mój mąż, Villon (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)3. Endō Shūsaku, Młodsza siostra (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)4. Fukazawa Shichirō, Bracia Murashō (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)5. Hirabayashi Taiko, Ludzkie życie (przeł. Mikołaj Melanowicz)6. Inoue Yasushi, Loulan (przeł. Mikołaj Melanowicz)7. Kaikō Takeshi, Żołnierska zapłata (przeł. Mikołaj Melanowicz)8. Kawabata Yasunari, Zatoka Łuku (przeł. Mikołaj Melanowicz)9. Kita Morio, Na grzbiecie górskim (przeł. Hanna Zamyłka)10. Kojima Nobuo, Karabin (przeł. Andrzej Nowak)11. Kuroi Senji, Tydzień świętego mozołu (przeł. Andrzej Nowak)12. Mishima Yukio, Umiłowanie ojczyzny (przeł. Henryk Lipszyc)13. Nagai Kafū, Order (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)14. Noma Hiroshi, Czerwony księżyc (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)15. Nosaka Akiyuki, Grób świetlików (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)16. Ōe Kenzaburō, Hojność umarłych (przeł. Mikołaj Melanowicz)17. Sakaguchi Angō, Pomylona (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)18. Tachihara Masaaki, Samobójstwo we dwoje (przeł. Andrzej Nowak)19. Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Ulotny most snów (przeł. Mikołaj Melanowicz)20. Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, Ulewa (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)21. Yasuoka Shōtarō, Żona właściciela lombardu (przeł. Krystyna Okazaki)