Abe Kobo, present name - Abe Kimifusa; March 7, 1924, Kita, Tokyo, Empire of Japan - January 22, 1993, Tokyo, Japan) - an outstanding Japanese writer, playwright and screenwriter, one of the leaders of the Japanese post-war avant-garde in art. The main theme of creativity is a person’s search for his own identity in modern world. The novels “The Woman in the Sand,” “Alien Face,” and “The Burnt Map” were made into films in the 1960s by director Hiroshi Teshigahara.
The future writer spent his childhood in Manchuria, where he graduated from high school in 1940. After returning to Japan, having completed his secondary education at Seijo School, he entered the Faculty of Medicine at Tokyo Imperial University in 1943. While still a student, in 1947 he married the artist Machi Abe, who would later play an important role, in particular, in the design of Abe’s books and the scenery for his theatrical productions. In 1948, Abe graduated from the university, but having unsatisfactorily passed the state qualifying medical exam, he actually deliberately lost the opportunity to become a practicing doctor.
I don’t know how many pillars the world rests on, but at least three of them are probably darkness, ignorance and stupidity.
In 1947, based on personal experience While living in Manchuria, Abe wrote a collection of poetry, Anonymous Poems, which he published himself, mimeographing the entire 62-page book. In poems where the strong influence on the author of the poetry of Rilke and the philosophy of Heidegger was obvious, the young Abe, along with expressing the despair of post-war youth, appealed to readers with a call to protest against reality.
The same year, 1947, dates back to Abe’s writing of his first large-scale work, called “Clay Walls.” The first person in the literary world to become acquainted with this work and highly appreciate it was the critic and Germanic philologist Rokuro Abe, who taught Abe German, when he was still studying at Sejo High School during the war years. The narrative in "Clay Walls" is based on the form of three volumes of notes of a young Japanese who, having decisively severed all ties with his hometown, goes to wander, but as a result is captured by one of the Manchurian gangs. Deeply impressed by this work, Rokuro Abe sent a text to Yutaka Haniya, who recently created the then little-known magazine “ Modern literature" The first volume of notes from “Clay Walls” in February next year was published in the magazine "Individuality". Having thus gained some fame, Abe received an invitation to join the Night association, led by Yutaka Haniya, Kiyoteru Hanada and Taro Okamoto. In October 1948, renamed “Signpost at the End of the Road,” “Clay Walls,” with the support of Haniya and Hanada, was published as a separate book by Shinzenbisha Publishing House. Later, in his review of The Wall, Haniya, who highly appreciated Abe's work, wrote that Abe, who in some sense can be considered a follower of Haniya, surpassed him, his predecessor.
In 1950, Abe, together with Hiroshi Teshigahara and Shinichi Segi, created creative association"Century".
Politics is like a web: the more you try to get rid of it, the more entangling it becomes.
In 1951, the story “The Wall. Crime of S. Karma.” This extraordinary work was partly inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, thematically inspired by Abe's memories of life on the Manchurian steppe, and also demonstrated the author's influence on his friend, literary critic and writer Kiyoteru Hanada. The story “The Wall. The Crime of S. Karma" in the first half of 1951 was awarded the Akutagawa Prize, sharing the championship with the one published in " Literary world» “Spring Grass” by Toshimitsu Ishikawa. During the jury's discussion of the entries, Abe's story was severely criticized by Koji Uno, but the enthusiastic support of Abe's candidacy by the other jury members, Yasunari Kawabata and Kosaku Takiya, played a decisive role in choosing the winner. In May of the same year, “The Wall. The Crime of S. Karma”, renamed “The Crime of S. Karma” and supplemented by the stories “Badger with Tower of Babel" and "Red Cocoon", released separate publication under the title "The Wall" with a foreword written by Jun Ishikawa.
In the 1950s, standing in the position of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the “People's Literature” association, as a result of which, after the merger, “ Folk literature"with "New Japanese Literature" entered into the "Society of New Japanese Literature" Communist Party Japan. However, in 1961, after the 8th Congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, having received it with skepticism, Abe publicly criticized it, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.
In 1973, Abe created and headed his own theater, Abe Kobo Studio, which marked the beginning of a period of his fruitful dramatic work. At the time of its opening, the Abe Theater had 12 members: Katsutoshi Atarashi, Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuya Nakadai, Karin Yamaguchi, Tatsuo Ito, Yuhei Ito, Kayoko Onishi, Fumiko Kuma, Masayuki Sato, Zenshi Maruyama and Joji Miyazawa. Thanks to the support of Seiji Tsutsumi, Abe's troupe was able to settle in Shibuya at the Seibu Theater, now called PARCO. In addition, the performances of the experimental group have been demonstrated abroad more than once, where they have received high praise.
From a mountain top, even a stormy sea seems like a smooth plain.
Thus, in 1979, the play “The Baby Elephant Died” was successfully performed in the USA. Despite the fact that Abe’s non-trivial innovative approach caused great resonance in theater world In each of the countries where Abe Kobo Studio toured, while remaining ignored by critics in Japan itself, the Abe Theater gradually ceased to exist in the 1980s.
Around 1981, Abe's attention was drawn to the work of the German thinker Elias Canetti, coinciding with his award of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Around the same time, on the recommendation of his Japanese friend Donald Keene, Abe became acquainted with the works of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. The works of Canetti and Marquez shocked Abe so much that in his subsequent own works and appearances on television, Abe began to popularize their work with great enthusiasm, contributing to a significant increase in the readership of these authors in Japan.
Late at night on December 25, 1992, Abe was hospitalized after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Despite the fact that after returning from the hospital the course of treatment was continued at home, starting on January 20, 1993, his health began to deteriorate sharply, as a result of which, early in the morning of January 22, the writer died suddenly of cardiac arrest at the age of 68.
Abe Kobo, present name - Abe Kimifusa; March 7, 1924, Kita, Tokyo, Empire of Japan - January 22, 1993, Tokyo, Japan) - an outstanding Japanese writer, playwright and screenwriter, one of the leaders of the Japanese post-war avant-garde in art. The main theme of creativity is a person’s search for his own identity in the modern world. The novels “The Woman in the Sand,” “Alien Face,” and “The Burnt Map” were made into films in the 1960s by director Hiroshi Teshigahara.
The future writer spent his childhood in Manchuria, where he graduated from high school in 1940. After returning to Japan, having completed his secondary education at Seijo School, he entered the Faculty of Medicine at Tokyo Imperial University in 1943. While still a student, in 1947 he married the artist Machi Abe, who would later play an important role, in particular, in the design of Abe’s books and the scenery for his theatrical productions. In 1948, Abe graduated from the university, but having unsatisfactorily passed the state qualifying medical exam, he actually deliberately lost the opportunity to become a practicing doctor.
I don’t know how many pillars the world rests on, but at least three of them are probably darkness, ignorance and stupidity.
In 1947, based on his personal experiences in Manchuria, Abe wrote a poetry collection, Anonymous Poems, which he published himself, mimeographing the entire 62-page book. In poems where the author was clearly strongly influenced by the poetry of Rilke and the philosophy of Heidegger, the young Abe, along with expressing the despair of post-war youth, appealed to readers with a call to protest against reality.
The same year, 1947, dates back to Abe’s writing of his first large-scale work, called “Clay Walls.” The first person in the literary world to become acquainted with this work and highly appreciate it was the critic and German philologist Rokuro Abe, who taught Abe German when he was still studying at Sejo High School during the war years. The narrative in “Clay Walls” is structured in the form of three volumes of notes of a young Japanese man who, having decisively severed all ties with his hometown, goes to wander, but as a result is captured by one of the Manchurian gangs. Deeply impressed by this work, Rokuro Abe sent the text to Yutaka Haniya, who recently created the then little-known journal Contemporary Literature. The first volume of notes from “Clay Walls” was published in the journal “Individuality” in February of the following year. Having thus gained some fame, Abe received an invitation to join the Night association, led by Yutaka Haniya, Kiyoteru Hanada and Taro Okamoto. In October 1948, renamed “Signpost at the End of the Road,” “Clay Walls,” with the support of Haniya and Hanada, was published as a separate book by Shinzenbisha Publishing House. Later, in his review of The Wall, Haniya, who highly appreciated Abe's work, wrote that Abe, who in some sense can be considered a follower of Haniya, surpassed him, his predecessor.
In 1950, Abe, together with Hiroshi Teshigahara and Shinichi Segi, created the creative association “Century”.
In 1951, the story “The Wall. Crime of S. Karma.” This extraordinary work was inspired in part by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, drew thematically from Abe's memories of life on the Manchurian steppe, and demonstrated the influence of his friend, the literary critic and writer Kiyoteru Hanada. The story “The Wall. The Crime of S. Karma” was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in the first half of 1951, sharing the championship with Toshimitsu Ishikawa’s “Spring Grass” published in the Literary World. During the jury's discussion of the entries, Abe's story was severely criticized by Koji Uno, but the enthusiastic support of Abe's candidacy by the other jury members, Yasunari Kawabata and Kosaku Takiya, played a decisive role in choosing the winner. In May of the same year, “The Wall. The Crime of S. Karma", renamed "The Crime of S. Karma" and supplemented by the stories "The Badger of the Tower of Babel" and "The Red Cocoon", was published as a separate edition under the title "The Wall" with a foreword written by Jun Ishikawa.
In the 1950s, standing in the position of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the “People's Literature” association, as a result of which, after the merger of “People’s Literature” with “New Japanese Literature” into the “Society of New Japanese Literature”, he joined the Communist Japan party. However, in 1961, after the 8th Congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, having received it with skepticism, Abe publicly criticized it, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.
All problems have one beginning - a woman was sitting, bored...
Well, okay, with us women it’s clear what to hide, we’re a shady people. But if a man sits and is bored, you won’t get away with problems alone. Here, so to speak, you can find real adventures to your liking!
So what do we have? A man is one thing. The creature is quite vague. Although, no. Height, weight, age, special features - everything is known. It is even stated that he is a school teacher and a big fan of entomology (chasing beetles, flies and other flying and crawling reptiles). Well, how can we not remember Nabokov with his extraordinary heroes! Moreover, some tendency of entomologists to various kinds perversions are commemorated by the hero himself.
What else do we have? Woman. And also one thing. Yes, yes, the one mentioned in the title. A woman who sits in the sand and, in fact, sees nothing but this very sand. As a place of events in our history there is a certain remote village, listed in the same places. The village, let me tell you, is quite strange. For some unknown reason (most likely due to climatic conditions), the village is constantly covered in sand. And residents, instead of moving to somewhere better, regularly struggle with this very sand, digging out their fragile homes from under it day and night. The work is difficult and endless. Therefore, there are not enough workers. So enterprising villagers grab the unlucky travelers and put them in holes to dig up sand. So our hero chased after an unknown sand fly in order to hide it behind the glass, but he got caught himself. Only in the pit. They gave him a shovel and said: “Do you want to eat, drink, live? Dig!
As you probably already guessed, he lived in the pit not alone, but with a local lady. Hardworking and silent. The little guy showed off to begin with. Well, how come he was thrown into a hole for such a good thing, deprived of freedom and the right to choose? And then nothing, I got used to it, got used to it, and the lady liked me... What a simple story! Not a story, just a beauty.
No, of course, I understand perfectly well that the author wanted to convey to the reader some deep meaning. For example, this one. There is a man and a woman. And there is a hole in which they sit - this is their marriage. Here was a man who lived and did not grieve. And then you have to constantly work and live according to someone else’s orders. And there’s no escape... You can look at it from a slightly different angle. Human life is woven from continuous contradictions: we either admire the sand, enjoying its unique structure, or we hate it when we move mountains made of the same sand. And we drive ourselves into pits in order to drag out a joyless existence, day after day doing all the same monotonous, backbreaking and meaningless work...
There is a lot of pleasant things in this story. The same language of narration: enchanting, bewitching... There seems to be philosophy and some worldly wisdom. The allegory used by the author gives the plot a certain fabulousness and paves the way into areas more suitable for magical realism. But, unfortunately or fortunately, I am a fairly straightforward person and all these omissions and meaningful phrases rarely find their way to my heart.
Curious? Yes. Intriguing? A little. Healthy? May be. Inspiring? Alas and ah - absolutely bypassed. But maybe I just don’t know how to find my way in the sand...
The future writer spent his childhood in Manchuria, where he graduated from high school in 1940. After returning to Japan, having completed his secondary education at Seijo School, he entered the Faculty of Medicine at Tokyo Imperial University in 1943. While still a student, in 1947 he married the artist Machi Abe, who would later play an important role, in particular, in the design of Abe’s books and the scenery for his theatrical productions. In 1948, Abe graduated from the university, but having unsatisfactorily passed the state qualifying medical exam, he actually deliberately lost the opportunity to become a practicing doctor.
In 1947, based on his personal experiences in Manchuria, Abe wrote a poetry collection, Anonymous Poems, which he published himself, mimeographing the entire 62-page book. In poems where the author was clearly strongly influenced by the poetry of Rilke and the philosophy of Heidegger, the young Abe, along with expressing the despair of post-war youth, appealed to readers with a call to protest against reality.
The same year, 1947, dates back to Abe’s writing of his first large-scale work, called “Clay Walls.” The first person in the literary world to become acquainted with this work and highly appreciate it was the critic and German philologist Rokuro Abe, who taught Abe German when he was still studying at Sejo High School during the war years. The narrative in “Clay Walls” is structured in the form of three volumes of notes of a young Japanese man who, having decisively severed all ties with his hometown, goes to wander, but as a result is captured by one of the Manchurian gangs. Deeply impressed by this work, Rokuro Abe sent the text to Yutaka Haniya, who recently created the then little-known journal Contemporary Literature. The first volume of notes from “Clay Walls” was published in the journal “Individuality” in February of the following year. Having thus gained some fame, Abe received an invitation to join the Night association, led by Yutaka Haniya, Kiyoteru Hanada and Taro Okamoto. In October 1948, renamed The Sign at the End of the Road, Clay Walls, with the support of Haniya and Hanada, was published as a separate book by Shinzenbisha. Later, in his review of The Wall, Haniya, who highly appreciated Abe's work, wrote that Abe, who in some sense can be considered a follower of Haniya, surpassed him, his predecessor.
In 1950, Abe, together with Hiroshi Teshigahara and Shinichi Segi, created the creative association “Century”.
In 1951, the story “The Wall. Crime of S. Karma.” This extraordinary work was inspired in part by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, drew thematically from Abe's memories of life on the Manchurian steppe, and demonstrated the influence of his friend, the literary critic and writer Kiyoteru Hanada. The story “The Wall. The Crime of S. Karma” was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in the first half of 1951, sharing the championship with Toshimitsu Ishikawa’s “Spring Grass” published in the Literary World. During the jury's discussion of the entries, Abe's story was severely criticized by Koji Uno, but the enthusiastic support of Abe's candidacy by the other jury members, Yasunari Kawabata and Kosaku Takiya, played a decisive role in choosing the winner. In May of the same year, “The Wall. The Crime of S. Karma", renamed "The Crime of S. Karma" and supplemented by the stories "The Badger of the Tower of Babel" and "The Red Cocoon", was published as a separate edition under the title "The Wall" with a foreword written by Jun Ishikawa.
In the 1950s, standing in the position of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the “People's Literature” association, as a result of which, after the merger of “People’s Literature” with “New Japanese Literature” into the “Society of New Japanese Literature”, he joined the Communist Japan party. However, in 1961, after the 8th Congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, having received it with skepticism, Abe publicly criticized it, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.
In 1973, Abe created and headed his own theater, Abe Kobo Studio, which marked the beginning of a period of his fruitful dramatic work. At the time of its opening, the Abe Theater had 12 members: Katsutoshi Atarashi, Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuya Nakadai, Karin Yamaguchi, Tatsuo Ito, Yuhei Ito, Kayoko Onishi, Fumiko Kuma, Masayuki Sato, Zenshi Maruyama and Joji Miyazawa. Thanks to the support of Seiji Tsutsumi, Abe's troupe was able to settle in Shibuya at the Seibu Theater, now called PARCO). In addition, the performances of the experimental group have been demonstrated abroad more than once, where they have received high praise. Thus, in 1979, the play “The Baby Elephant Died” was successfully performed in the USA. Despite the fact that Abe's non-trivial innovative approach caused a great resonance in the theater world of each of the countries where Abe Kobo Studio toured, while remaining ignored by critics in Japan itself, Abe's theater gradually ceased to exist in the 1980s.
Around 1981, Abe's attention was drawn to the work of the German thinker Elias Canetti, coinciding with his award of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Around the same time, on the recommendation of his Japanese friend Donald Keene, Abe became acquainted with the works of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. The works of Canetti and Marquez shocked Abe so much that in his subsequent writings and television appearances, Abe became very enthusiastic about popularizing their work, helping to significantly increase the readership of these authors in Japan.
Best of the day
Late at night on December 25, 1992, Abe was hospitalized after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Despite the fact that after returning from the hospital the course of treatment was continued at home, starting on January 20, 1993, his health began to deteriorate sharply, as a result of which, early in the morning of January 22, the writer died suddenly of cardiac arrest at the age of 68.
Kenzaburo Oe, putting Abe on a par with Kafka and Faulkner and considering him one of the greatest writers in the entire history of literature, said that if Abe had lived longer, he, and not Oe himself, who was awarded it in 1994, would certainly have received Nobel Prize on literature.
Various facts from life
Abe was the first Japanese writer to compose his works by typing them in a hardware word processor (beginning in 1984). Abe used NEC products, models “NWP-10N” and “Bungo”.
Abe's musical interests were varied. Being a big fan of the group " Pink Floyd", from academic music he most appreciated the music of Béla Bartók. In addition, Abe purchased the synthesizer long before it became widespread in Japan (at that time, except for Abe, the synthesizer could only be found in the NHK Electronic Music Studio and from the composer Isao Tomita, and if you exclude those who used synthesizer in professional purposes, then Abe was the only owner of this instrument in the country). Abe used the synthesizer in the following way: he recorded interview programs broadcast on NHK and independently processed them to create sound effects that served as accompaniment in theatrical productions"Abe Kobo Studios"
Abe is also known for his interest in photography, which went far beyond mere hobby and bordered on mania. Photography, revealing itself through themes of surveillance and voyeurism, is ubiquitous in artistic works Abe. Abe's photographs were used in the design of the published "Shinchosha" full meeting Abe's writings: they can be seen at back side each volume of the collection. Abe the photographer preferred Contax cameras, and garbage dumps were among his favorite photographic subjects.
Abe holds a patent for a simple and convenient snow chain (“Chainiziee”) that can be placed on car tires without the use of a jack. The invention was demonstrated by him on the 10th international exhibition inventors, where Abe was awarded a silver medal.
