The writing is stylistically somewhat akin to that of Kafka, who, perhaps not surprisingly, was one of Abe's foremost literary influences growing up. While there, he essentially becomes a prisoner when he ends up housing with a young woman (called "the woman") who lives inside a sand pit.Ībe is one of Japan's most highly recognized novelists, and, from this book-my first excursion into his literary world-it is not difficult to see why. ![]() The book, which has been described as "part suspense story" and "part existentialist novel" tells the story of Niki Junpei (otherwise generically referred to as "the man"), an amateur entomologist who takes a three-day trip to the ocean in hopes of finding a new specimen of beetle. It is hoped that the materials introduced, and the conclusions arrived at in this thesis will help to form the basis for more detailed research.I just finished reading The Woman in the Dunes by Abe Kobo. Third, Abe's heroes struggle with outside forces against which they are powerless their defeat is intended to prove some failing present in all of us. Second, Abe abandoned the politically directed surrealism of his early days for a more subtle, documentary style. First, Abe's style is not confessional, but descriptive and explanatory. The corpus of this thesis, four translations, three stories in the original, several novels in translation, as well as the works of criticism consulted, should provide the basis for some tentative conclusions. Appendix III Is a list of Abe's original works, in order of publication. ![]() In the second part of Chapter II, the four translations mentioned above are examined in chronological order and are analyzed in detail to show Abe's change in style at about the time he wrote "Yume no heishi." Some facts concerning Abe's politics are also explained.Īppendix I and II contain the four short stories in chronological order: first the translations and then the originals. These three works represent not only stepping stones in Abe's career, they also testify to the painstaking experimentation in which Abe was engaged before abandoning the surrealist style of his early years. Karuma shi no hanzai", an extremely long short story remains to be translated. Jelinkova 1965), are available in English, though the remaining one "Kabe-S. John Nathan 1966), and Dendorokakariya" (Dendrocacalia 1949, trans. Two of the remaining three, "Akai mayu" (Red Cocoon 1950, trans. Furthermore, Japanese critics, as can be seen in the first part of Chapter I, would never consider separating the author's personality from his literary creations.Ĭhapter I comes to the conclusion that a connection does exist between Abe and his heroes, albeit a much more subtle one than the typical one-to-one, author-hero relationship of Japanese confessional literature.Ĭhapter II is an examination of seven of Abe's stories, four of which, "Oshimusume", "Inu", "Yume no heishi" and "Toki no gake", are translated and appended at the back of this thesis. ![]() This thesis, therefore-, examines both the man and his works. Although the argument that a man's life and his works should be kept separate, may be valid when we examine the works of an author of our own cultural-linguistic environment, such an examination of style, devoid of human experience would be meaningless when applied to the works of a man who is little known and whose culture still remains to be studied by most North Americans. Chapter I concerns itself with Abe Kobo's life and working environment. This thesis is divided into three parts: Chapter I, Chapter II, and the Appendices each of these parts fulfills different purposes.
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