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La mappa bruciata
Il rispettabile Nemuro Hiroshi, trentaquattro anni, responsabile vendite dell'azienda Dainen, è scomparso da sei mesi quando la moglie decide di assumere un investigatore privato. La donna però beve troppo e i suoi ricordi sono inaffidabili, mentre il fratello di lei, personaggio ambiguo e inquietante, sembra fare di tutto per depistare le attività. Affidandosi a labili indizi - una scatola di fiammiferi, una fotografia, un soprabito macchiato - il detective inizia un'indagine per i vicoli di Tokyo, labirintica e alienante, tra tassisti e prostitute, teppisti, malavitosi e reietti d'ogni sorta. Una caccia all'uomo che si trasforma presto in ossessione, spingendo l'investigatore a identificarsi progressivamente con lo perché, in fondo, fuggire e tornare a casa sono le due facce di una stessa medaglia. Incentrato sulla ricerca della propria identità in un mondo frammentato e disorientante, La mappa bruciata (1967) chiude, dopo La donna di sabbia e Il volto di un altro, la trilogia della "sparizione", un concetto che diventa per Abe la chiave di interpretazione della società contemporanea. Considerato da Mishima un capolavoro, questo romanzo ha consacrato definitivamente l'autore tra i più significativi esponenti d'avanguardia del Novecento.
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 2026
About the author
Kōbō Abe
212 books2,185 followersKōbō 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 much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
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 much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
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October 12, 2026
Come sempre Abe Kobo si riconferma essere uno tra i migliori scrittori Giapponesi (e non solo) del '900.
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