Kôbô Abe(1924-1993)
- Writer
- Director
Kôbô Abe set off to medical school to please
his parents. While still a student, he became interested in writing,
and managed to sell a short story to a magazine. He failed his medical
exam twice, and asked to be spared dishonor and allowed to pass the
third time, under the agreement that he would never practice medicine,
because he wanted to be a writer. In the 1960s he adapted his novels
The Man Without a Map (1968),
The Box Man (2002),
Woman in the Dunes (1964), and
The Face of Another (1966) to film. The
last proved unsuccessful, and the professional relationship they had
dissolved. Abe's works did not shy away from the surreal or even
elements of science fiction, and frequently dealt with medical doctors
and medical terminology, even when becoming extremely Kafkaesque. His
last book, Kangaroo Notebook, was published posthumously and
maddeningly questions Abe's favorite themes: illusion vs. reality.
