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Kōbō Abe

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Kōbō Abe


Born
in Kita, Tokyo, Japan
March 07, 1924

Died
January 22, 1993

Genre

Influences


Kōbō Abe (安部 公房 Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe, was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer, and inventor.

He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.

Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.

He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") 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. Though he did muc
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Average rating: 3.77 · 67,217 ratings · 6,824 reviews · 215 distinct worksSimilar authors
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The Face of Another

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The Ruined Map

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Secret Rendezvous

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The Ark Sakura

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Beyond the Curve

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Woman in the Dunes / The Fa...

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4.14 avg rating — 486 ratings — published 1964 — 16 editions
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More books by Kōbō Abe…
(1 book)
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3.24 avg rating — 38 ratings

Quotes by Kōbō Abe  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Loneliness was an unsatisfied thirst for illusion.”
Kobo Abe, The Woman in the Dunes

“When I look at small things, I think I shall go on living: drops of rain, leather gloves shrunk by being wet...When I look at something too big, I want to die: the Diet Building, or a map of the world...”
Kobo Abe, The Box Man

“Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?”
Kōbō Abe, The Woman in the Dunes

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