Kangaroo Notebook (First Edition)

Abe, Kobo

ISBN 10: 0679424121 / ISBN 13: 9780679424123

Published by Knopf (New York), 1996

About this Item

New York: Knopf, 1996. First edition., First printing. fine in a fine jacket. A novel, completed just before the author's death. An odd novel about a guy that wakes up one day to find that he is growing sprouts. Trs. by M.T. Mori. 183 pages. This is a tight clean copy, without the rubbing that plagues this title. Comes with archival-quality dust jacket protector. NOTE: In the photo, the jacket appears to be "scratched," yet this is part of hte jacket design. GW. Seller Inventory # 5862

Bibliographic Details

Title: Kangaroo Notebook (First Edition)

Publisher: Knopf (New York)

Publication Date: 1996

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

In the last novel written before his death in 1993, one of Japan's most distinguished novelists proffered a surreal vision of Japanese society that manages to be simultaneously fearful and jarringly funny. The narrator of Kangaroo Notebook wakes on morning to discover that his legs are growing radish sprouts, an ailment that repulses his doctor but provides the patient with the unusual ability to snack on himself. In short order, Kobo Abe's unraveling protagonist finds himself hurtling in a hospital bed to the very shores of hell. Abe has assembled a cast of oddities into a coherent novel, one imbued with unexpected meaning. Translated from the Japanese by Maryellen Toman Mori.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the Author:

Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924 and grew up in Mukden, Manchuria, during World War II. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Considered one of Japan’s foremost novelists, his most famous works include The Face of Another (1964), The Box Man (1973), Secret Rendezvous (1977), and The Ark Sakura (1984). All of Abe’s books have been bestsellers in Japan and he was the recipient of numerous literary awards and prizes, including the Yomiuri Prize for The Woman in the Dunes in 1962. He collaborated with director Hiroshi Teshigahara on film adaptations of four of his novels—including The Woman in the Dunes—and was also widely known as a dramatist. He died in 1993.