Kabe by Abe (3 results)

paperback_bunko. Condition: Acceptable. Please see the condition note after this for details, if this is missing please consider Acceptable to mean poor quality that could include major staining, water damage, writing, missing dustjacket, etc etc. Our books are dispatched from a Yorkshire former cotton mill. We list via barcode/ISBN so please note that the images are stock images and may not be the exact copy you receive, furthermore the details about edition and year might not be accurate as many publishers reuse the same ISBN for multiple editions and as we simply scan a barcode or enter an ISBN we do not check the validity of the edition data when listing. If you're looking for an exact edition please don't order (at least not without checking with us first, although we don't always have time to check). We aim to dispatch prompty, the service used will depend on order value and book size. We can ship to most countries, see our shipping policies. Payment is via Abe only.

Paperback Bunko. Condition: Brand New. Japanese language. 5.91x4.17x0.55 inches. In Stock.

First edition. Illustrated by Katsuragawa Hiroshi. 8vo. Original printed paper wrappers and obi (spine browned), browning and minor foxing throughout (due to poor paper quality), still a close to very good copy. Signed by the author on front free endpaper. [vi], 248, [vi] pp. Tokyo, Gestuyo-shobo, Showa 28 [i.e. The first edition of Kobo Abe's Akutagawa prize-winning collection of short stories, with the author's distinctive signature. The stories draw on Western fables and, in Abe's characteristics style, comment on contemporary society through absurdist and dystopian narratives. Yasunari Kawabata was the lead judge of the Akutagawa prize in that year, and, despite his criticisms of the stories as being too loose in parts, he highly commended Abe for signalling a new direction in literature and writing stories that invite curiosity. The introduction to this book was written by the eminent writer Jun Ishikawa, who was somewhat of a mentor to Abe. The book is illustrated by his close friend Hiroshi Katsuragawa, who was also an active member of Tokyo's avant-garde art scene. The original artworks can be found in the collections of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Both Abe and Katsuragawa were members of the Seiki no Kai [the Century Society], a group of intellectuals who gathered to discuss and critique arts and politics of the post-war Japan they were experiencing. .