Kobo Abe was a Japanese author of novels, short stories, plays, and essays. Born in 1924 in Tokyo, and raised in Manchuria, Abe was exposed to a sense of impermanence and instability early in life, and once said in an interview, “All things that are valued for their stability offend me.”
In 1943, he enrolled in medical school, in part to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a doctor and professor, and in part to avoid being drafted to fight in the war. He graduated, but never practiced medicine (in fact, he was awarded a degree on the condition that he never practice), and instead devoted himself to writing. He first self-published a collection of avant-garde poetry in 1946,...
