Kobo abe biography. Kobo Abe Fantastic in the works of Kobo Abe

Abe Cobo (Kimifusa) Abe Cobo Career: Writer
Birth: Japan, 7.3.1924
Worldwide fame was brought to the writer by the novels The Woman in the Sands (1962), Alien Face (1964) and The Burnt Map (1967), which appeared one after another. After their appearance, they started talking about Abe as one of those who decide the fate of not only Japanese, but also world literature. These novels by Abe are central to his work.

Abe spent his childhood and youth in Manchuria, where his dad worked at the medical faculty of Mukden University. In 1943, at the height of the war, at the insistence of his father, he went to Tokyo and entered the medical faculty of the Tokyo Imperial University, but a year later returned to Mukden, where he witnessed the defeat of Japan. In 1946, Abe still went to Tokyo to continue his education, but he didn’t have enough money, and he didn’t really want to be a doctor. Nevertheless, in 1948 Abe completed his studies and received a diploma. Not having worked a day as a doctor, he chooses the literary field. This time includes his early works, which embodied the impressions of his childhood from his stay in the country of other cultures, - Road sign at the end of the street (1948) and others.

Abe married as a student, his mistress - an artist and designer by profession - painted illustrations for many of his works.

In 1951, Abe Sten's story was published. The crime of S. Karma, which brought the writer literary fame and was awarded the highest literary prize in Japan - the Akutagawa Prize. Later, Abe Kobo expanded the story, adding two more parts: the Badger from the Tower of Babel and the Red Cocoon. Disorder, loneliness of the personality - this is the leitmotif of the Wall. This story determined the literary fate of Abe.

Like every young uncle of his generation, he experienced a fascination with politics, was moreover a member of the Japanese Communist Party, from which he left in protest against the introduction of Soviet troops into Hungary. Moving away from politics, Abe devoted himself entirely to literature and created works that brought him world-wide fame.

The publication of the Fourth Ice Age (1958), which combined features of science fiction, detective genre and Western European intellectual novel, completely strengthened Abe's position in Japanese literature.

Worldwide fame was brought to the writer by the novels The Woman in the Sands (1962), Alien Face (1964) and The Burnt Map (1967), which appeared only after another. After their appearance, they started talking about Abe as one of those who decide the fate of not only Japanese, but also important literature. These novels by Abe are central to his work.

Both in terms of the time of creation and in content, the novels The Box Man (1973), The Secret Rendezvous (1977), The Entered the Ark (1984) are adjacent to them.

One of the most important points that determined his literary, and indeed life, positions, was his excellent knowledge of important literature, including Russian, and perhaps primarily Russian. He wrote: Back in my school years, I was fascinated by the work of two giants of Russian literature - Gogol and Dostoevsky. I have read almost everything written by them, and not the only time, and I count myself among their students. Gogol had a particularly great influence on me. The interweaving of fiction and reality, thanks to which reality appears extremely dazzling and impressive, appeared in my works thanks to Gogol, who taught me this.

Abe Kobo was not without a twist as a literary man; he was known as a man of various abilities and talents, excellently versed in classical music, a linguist and a photographer.

Abe is not only a prose writer, but also a playwright and screenwriter. His plays The Man Turned into a Stick (1957), The Ghosts Among Us (1958) and others have been translated into many languages ​​of the world. For eleven years - from 1969 to 1980 - Abe Kobo owned and operated his own studio. Over the years, as a director, he has staged a sea of ​​performances, such as, in particular, Fake Fish, Suitcase, Friends, etc. yet with incredible success. Many of Abe's novels have been filmed.

Biographers invariably had difficulty describing the existence of Kobo Abe. In fact, his life story was devoid of any bright events. He led a closed lifestyle, did not allow outsiders to approach him, did not favor journalists, he lived as a real recluse in a secluded cottage in the area of ​​the mountain resort of Hakone. And the writer really had no friends. He himself admitted: I do not like people. I am the only one. And my superiority is that, unlike many others, I understand this quite well. "In 1992, the writer was one of the candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. And only the sudden end of January 12, 1993 deprived him of this award.

Today in Japan, Kobo Abe has a reputation for being an elite writer rather than a popular one.

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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. Based on the novels "The Woman in the Sands", "Alien Face" and "The Burnt Map" in the 1960s, films were made by director Hiroshi Tesigahara.

The future writer spent his childhood in Manchuria, where he graduated from high school in 1940. After returning to Japan, after completing his secondary education at Seijou School, in 1943 he entered the Medical Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University. While still a student, in 1947 he married the artist Mati Abe, who in the future will play an important role, in particular, in the design of Abe's books and scenery for his theatrical productions. In 1948, Abe graduated from the university, however, having passed the state qualifying medical examination unsatisfactorily, in fact, he deliberately lost the opportunity to become a practicing doctor.

I don't know how many pillars the world is supported by, but at least three of them are probably darkness, ignorance and stupidity.

In 1947, based on his personal experience of life in Manchuria, Abe wrote a collection of poetry "Anonymous Poems", which he published himself, having printed the entire circulation of the 62-page book on a mimeograph. In poems, where the strong influence on the author of poetry Rilke and the philosophy of Heidegger was evident, young Abe, along with an expression of the despair of the post-war youth, appealed to readers with an appeal to protest against reality.

In the same year, 1947, Abe wrote his first work of a large form, called "Clay Walls". The first person in the literary world who got acquainted with this work and gave it a high assessment was the critic and Germanist philologist Rokuro Abe, who taught Abe the German language when he was still at the Sejo high school during the war years. The narrative in "Walls of Clay" is built in the form of three volumes of notes by a young Japanese man who, having decisively severed all ties with his hometown, leaves 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 magazine Contemporary Literature. The first volume of notes from the "Clay Walls" in February of the following year was published in the magazine "Individuality". Having thus gained some fame, Abe received an invitation to join the "Night" group, which was led by Yutaka Haniya, Kiyoteru Hanada and Taro Okamoto. In October 1948, the Clay Walls, renamed "Signpost at the End of the Road," with the support of Haniya and Hanada, were published as a separate book by the 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 Tesigahara and Shinichi Segi, created the creative association "Century".

In 1951, the story “The Wall. The crime of S. Karma. " This extraordinary piece was inspired in part by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, was thematically based on Abe's memories of life in the Manchurian steppe, and also demonstrated the influence on the author of 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, dividing the primacy with Toshimitsu Ishikawa's" Spring Grass "published in the Literary World. Abe's story was heavily criticized by Koji Uno during the judging panel discussion, but Abe's enthusiastic support from 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 from the Tower of Babel and The Red Cocoon, was published as a separate publication under the title The Wall with a preface written by Jun Ishikawa.

In the 1950s, holding the positions of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the "Folk Literature" association, as a result of which, after the merger of "Folk Literature" with "New Japanese Literature", he joined the "Society for New Japanese Literature" the party of Japan. However, in 1961, after the 8th congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, skeptically accepting it, Abe publicly criticized him, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.

The future writer spent his childhood in Manchuria, where he graduated from high school in 1940. After returning to Japan, after completing his secondary education at Seijou School, in 1943 he entered the Medical Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University. While still a student, in 1947 he married the artist Mati Abe, who in the future will play an important role, in particular, in the design of Abe's books and scenery for his theatrical productions. In 1948, Abe graduated from the university, however, having passed the state qualifying medical examination unsatisfactorily, in fact, he deliberately lost the opportunity to become a practicing doctor.

In 1947, based on his personal experience of life in Manchuria, Abe wrote a collection of poetry "Anonymous Poems", which he published himself, having printed the entire circulation of the 62-page book on a mimeograph. In poems, where the strong influence on the author of poetry Rilke and the philosophy of Heidegger was evident, young Abe, along with an expression of the despair of the post-war youth, appealed to readers with an appeal to protest against reality.

In the same year, 1947, Abe wrote his first work of a large form, called "Clay Walls". The first person in the literary world who got acquainted with this work and gave it a high assessment was the critic and Germanist philologist Rokuro Abe, who taught Abe the German language when he was still at the Sejo high school during the war years. The narrative in "Walls of Clay" is built in the form of three volumes of notes by a young Japanese man who, having decisively severed all ties with his hometown, leaves 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 magazine Contemporary Literature. The first volume of notes from the "Clay Walls" in February of the following year was published in the magazine "Individuality". Having thus gained some fame, Abe received an invitation to join the "Night" group, which was 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 were published as a separate book by the 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 Tesigahara and Shinichi Segi, created the creative association "Century".

In 1951, the story “The Wall. The crime of S. Karma. " This extraordinary piece was inspired in part by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, was thematically based on Abe's memories of life in the Manchurian steppe, and also demonstrated the influence on the author of 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, dividing the primacy with Toshimitsu Ishikawa's" Spring Grass "published in the Literary World. Abe's story was heavily criticized by Koji Uno during the judging panel discussion, but Abe's enthusiastic support from 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 from the Tower of Babel and The Red Cocoon, was published as a separate publication under the title The Wall with a preface written by Jun Ishikawa.

In the 1950s, holding the positions of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the "Folk Literature" association, as a result of which, after the merger of "Folk Literature" with "New Japanese Literature", he joined the "Society for New Japanese Literature" the party of Japan. However, in 1961, after the 8th congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, skeptically accepting it, Abe publicly criticized him, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.

In 1973, Abe created and headed his own theater "Studio Abe Kobo", which marked the beginning of a period of his fruitful dramatic creativity. At the time of its opening, Abe Theater consisted of 12 people: Katsutoshi Atarashi, Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuya Nakadai, Karin Yamaguchi, Tatsuo Ito, Yuuhei Ito, Kayoko Onishi, Fumiko Kuma, Masayuki Sato, Zenshi Maruyama and Jёawiji Miyadi. Thanks to the support of Seiji Tsutsumi, Abe's troupe was able to settle in Shibuya at the now-named PARCO Seibu Theater). In addition, the performances of the experimental team were repeatedly demonstrated abroad, where they were highly appreciated. So in 1979 in the USA the play "The Elephant Died" was successfully performed. Despite the fact that Abe's non-trivial innovative approach caused a great resonance in the theatrical world of each of the countries where Abe Kobo Studio toured, while remaining ignored by critics in Japan itself, in the 1980s, Abe Theater gradually ceased to exist.

Around 1981, Abe's attention was drawn to the work of the German thinker Elias Canetti, coinciding with the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Around the same time, on the recommendation of his friend the Japaneseist Donald Keene, Abe became acquainted with the works of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. The work of Canetti and Marquez shocked Abe so much that in his own writings and television appearances that followed, Abe enthusiastically popularized their work, significantly increasing the readership of these authors in Japan.

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Late at night on December 25, 1992, after a cerebral hemorrhage, Abe was hospitalized. Despite the fact that after returning from the hospital, the course of treatment was continued at home, starting on January 20, 1993, the state of health began to deteriorate sharply, as a result of which, early in the morning of January 22, the writer suddenly died 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 the Nobel Prize in literature.

Various facts from life

Abe was the first Japanese writer to compose his works by typing them into a hardware word processor (since 1984). Abe used NEC's NWP-10N and Bungo products.

Abe's musical tastes were versatile. As a big fan of Pink Floyd, he appreciated the music of Bela Bartok the most in academic music. In addition, Abe acquired the synthesizer long before it became widespread in Japan (at that time, apart from 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 for professional purposes, then Abe was the only owner of this instrument in the country). The synthesizer was used by Abe in the following way: he recorded programs from interviews transmitted by NHK and independently processed them to create sound effects that served as accompaniment in the theatrical productions of Abe Kobo Studio.

Abe is also known for his interest in photography, which went far beyond mere hobby and bordered on mania. Photography, revealing itself through the themes of surveillance and peeping, is ubiquitous in Abe's artwork. Abe's photographs are used in the design of the published "Shinchsha" of the complete collection of Abe's works: they can be seen on the reverse side of each of the volumes of the collection. Abe the photographer preferred Contax cameras, and garbage dumps were among his favorite subjects of photography.

Abe holds a patent for a simple and comfortable snow chain ("Chainiziee") that can be slipped onto a car's tires without using a jack. The invention was demonstrated by him at the 10th International Exhibition of Inventors, where Abe was awarded a silver medal.

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. Based on the novels "The Woman in the Sands", "Alien Face" and "The Burnt Map" in the 1960s, films were made by director Hiroshi Tesigahara.

The future writer spent his childhood in Manchuria, where he graduated from high school in 1940. After returning to Japan, after completing his secondary education at Seijou School, in 1943 he entered the Medical Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University. While still a student, in 1947 he married the artist Mati Abe, who in the future will play an important role, in particular, in the design of Abe's books and scenery for his theatrical productions. In 1948, Abe graduated from the university, however, having passed the state qualifying medical examination unsatisfactorily, in fact, he deliberately lost the opportunity to become a practicing doctor.

I don't know how many pillars the world is supported by, but at least three of them are probably darkness, ignorance and stupidity.

In 1947, based on his personal experience of life in Manchuria, Abe wrote a collection of poetry "Anonymous Poems", which he published himself, having printed the entire circulation of the 62-page book on a mimeograph. In poems, where the strong influence on the author of poetry Rilke and the philosophy of Heidegger was evident, young Abe, along with an expression of the despair of the post-war youth, appealed to readers with an appeal to protest against reality.

In the same year, 1947, Abe wrote his first work of a large form, called "Clay Walls". The first person in the literary world who got acquainted with this work and gave it a high assessment was the critic and Germanist philologist Rokuro Abe, who taught Abe the German language when he was still at the Sejo high school during the war years. The narrative in "Walls of Clay" is built in the form of three volumes of notes by a young Japanese man who, having decisively severed all ties with his hometown, leaves 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 magazine Contemporary Literature. The first volume of notes from the "Clay Walls" in February of the following year was published in the magazine "Individuality". Having thus gained some fame, Abe received an invitation to join the "Night" group, which was led by Yutaka Haniya, Kiyoteru Hanada and Taro Okamoto. In October 1948, the Clay Walls, renamed "Signpost at the End of the Road," with the support of Haniya and Hanada, were published as a separate book by the 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 Tesigahara and Shinichi Segi, created the creative association "Century".

Politics is like a spider's web: the more you try to get rid of it, the more it entangles you.

In 1951, the story “The Wall. The crime of S. Karma. " This extraordinary piece was inspired in part by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, was thematically based on Abe's memories of life in the Manchurian steppe, and also demonstrated the influence on the author of 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, dividing the primacy with Toshimitsu Ishikawa's" Spring Grass "published in the Literary World. Abe's story was heavily criticized by Koji Uno during the judging panel discussion, but Abe's enthusiastic support from 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" Crime of S. Karma "and supplemented by the stories" The Badger from the Tower of Babel "and" The Red Cocoon ", was published as a separate publication under the title" The Wall "with a foreword written by Jun Ishikawa.

In the 1950s, holding the positions of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the "Folk Literature" association, as a result of which, after the merger of "Folk Literature" with "New Japanese Literature", he joined the "Society for New Japanese Literature" the party of Japan. However, in 1961, after the 8th congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, skeptically accepting it, Abe publicly criticized him, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.

In 1973, Abe created and headed his own theater "Studio Abe Kobo", which marked the beginning of a period of his fruitful dramatic creativity. At the time of its opening, Abe Theater consisted of 12 people: Katsutoshi Atarashi, Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuya Nakadai, Karin Yamaguchi, Tatsuo Ito, Yuuhei Ito, Kayoko Onishi, Fumiko Kuma, Masayuki Sato, Zenshi Maruyama and Jёawiji Miyadi. Thanks to the support of Seiji Tsutsumi, Abe's troupe was able to settle in Shibuya at the now called PARCO Seibu Theater. In addition, the performances of the experimental team were repeatedly demonstrated abroad, where they were highly appreciated.

From the mountaintop, even the stormy sea appears to be a smooth plain.

So in 1979 in the USA the play "The Elephant Died" was successfully performed. Despite the fact that Abe's non-trivial innovative approach caused a great resonance in the theatrical world of each of the countries where Abe Kobo Studio toured, while remaining ignored by critics in Japan itself, in the 1980s, Abe Theater gradually ceased to exist.

Around 1981, Abe's attention was drawn to the work of the German thinker Elias Canetti, coinciding with the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Around the same time, on the recommendation of his friend the Japaneseist Donald Keene, Abe became acquainted with the works of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. The work of Canetti and Marquez shocked Abe so much that in his own writings and television appearances that followed, Abe enthusiastically popularized their work, significantly increasing the readership of these authors in Japan.

Late at night on December 25, 1992, after a cerebral hemorrhage, Abe was hospitalized. Despite the fact that after returning from the hospital, the course of treatment was continued at home, starting on January 20, 1993, the state of health began to deteriorate sharply, as a result of which, early in the morning of January 22, the writer suddenly died of cardiac arrest at the age of 68.

In the 1950s, holding the positions of the literary avant-garde, Abe, together with Hiroshi Noma, joined the "Folk Literature" (Japanese) association, as a result of which, after the merger of "Folk Literature" with "New Japanese Literature" (Japanese), into " Society for New Japanese Literature "(Japanese) joined the Japanese Communist Party. However, in 1961, after the 8th congress of the CPJ and the new course of the party determined at it, skeptically accepting it, Abe publicly criticized him, which was followed by his expulsion from the CPJ.

In 1962, Tesigahara directed his first feature film, Trap, based on Abe's script, based on a play by the writer. Subsequently, Tesigahara directed three more films based on Abe's novels.

In 1973, Abe created and headed his own theater "Studio Abe Kobo" (Japanese), which marked the beginning of a period of his fruitful dramatic creativity. At the time of its opening, Abe Theater consisted of 12 people: Katsutoshi Atarashi, Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuya Nakadai, Karin Yamaguchi, Tatsuo Ito, Yuuhei Ito, Kayoko Onishi, Fumiko Kuma, Masayuki Sato, Zenshi Maruyama and Jёawiji Miyadi. Thanks to the support of Seiji Tsutsumi, Abe's troupe was able to establish itself in Shibuya at the now called PARCO Seibu Theater. In addition, the performances of the experimental team were repeatedly demonstrated abroad, where they were highly appreciated. So in 1979 in the USA the play "The Elephant Died" (Japanese) was successfully performed. Despite the fact that Abe's non-trivial innovative approach caused a great resonance in the theatrical world of each of the countries where Abe Kobo Studio toured, while remaining ignored by critics in Japan itself, in the 1980s, Abe Theater gradually ceased to exist.

Around 1981, Abe's attention was drawn to the work of the German thinker Elias Canetti, coinciding with the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Around the same time, on the recommendation of his friend the Japaneseist Donald Keene, Abe became acquainted with the works of the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. The work of Canetti and Marquez shocked Abe so much that in his own writings and television appearances that followed, Abe enthusiastically popularized their work, significantly increasing the readership of these authors in Japan.

Late at night on December 25, 1992, after a cerebral hemorrhage, Abe was hospitalized. Despite the fact that after returning from the hospital, the course of treatment was continued at home, starting on January 20, 1993, the state of health began to deteriorate sharply, as a result of which, early in the morning of January 22, the writer suddenly died 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 the Nobel Prize in literature.

Various facts from life

Abe was the first Japanese writer to compose his works by typing them into a hardware word processor (since 1984). Abe used NEC's NWP-10N and Bungo (Japanese) products.

Abe's musical tastes were versatile. As a big fan of Pink Floyd, he appreciated the music of Bela Bartok the most in academic music. In addition, Abe acquired the synthesizer long before it became widespread in Japan (at that time, except from 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 the synthesizer for professional purposes, then Abe was the only owner of this instrument in the country). Abe used the synthesizer in the following way: he recorded programs from interviews transmitted by NHK and independently processed them to create sound effects that served as an accompaniment in the theatrical productions of Abe Kobo Studio.

Abe is also known for his interest in photography, which went far beyond mere hobby and bordered on mania. Photography, revealing itself through the themes of surveillance and peeping, is ubiquitous in Abe's artwork. Abe's photographs are used in the design of the published "Shinchsha" of the complete collection of Abe's works: they can be seen on the reverse side of each of the volumes of the collection. Abe the photographer preferred Contax cameras, and garbage dumps were among his favorite subjects of photography.