The World Literature Hall has organized a book exhibition «Kobo Abe – a classic of Japanese literature of the twentieth century», dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Japanese writer, playwright, screenwriter, one of the leaders of the Japanese post-war avant-garde in art.

Kobo Abe, real name is Abe Kimifusa (03.7.1924–01.22.1993). His childhood and youth were spent in Manchuria. In 1943, Kobo went to Tokyo, where he entered the medical faculty of Tokyo Imperial University, graduating without working a day in his specialty. But the natural science education he received at a prestigious university still helped him in his work.

Kobo Abe literally broke into the literature of the Land of the Rising Sun.In 1948, he published his first short stories «The Road Sign at the end of the Street», «Anonymous Poems». He became famous for the metaphorical novels «The Woman in the Sand» (1962), «Someone Else's Face» (1964), «The Box Man» (1973). The works of the author, who worked in the second half of the twentieth century, opened to the reader the specific world of literature of the Land of the Rising Sun. His works are addressed to connoisseurs of intellectual prose and raise philosophical questions of human existence in the world, the search for the meaning of existence and understanding oneself. With the advent of these novels, Kobo Abe began to be talked about as a great writer with a worldwide reputation. The story «The Wall Crime S. Karuma»  also brought recognition and praise from critics, he was awarded the Ryunosuke Akutagawa Prize in 1951. In 1960, for the novel «A Woman in Search», the writer was awarded the prize of the newspaper «Iomiuri».

Kobo Abe is also known as a director and playwright. In 1962, the film «The Trap» (directed by Tesgihar) was shot based on the script by Kobo Abe. In 1973, his own theater, the «Abe Kobo Studio», began its work.He staged plays in his «ABE Studio». The theater group under his leadership visited the United States in 1980. «ABE Studio» became famous for its innovative approach, and their touring plays caused a public outcry. The theater existed until the 1980s. The writer's horizons were not limited to literature and theater: he was interested in photography, classical music and even computers, becoming one of the first writers to type works on a hardware word processor. An interesting fact is that Kobo Abe could play the synthesizer and even wrote music for his own theater.

Completes the bibliography of the writer of novels: «Secret Rendezvous», «Entered the Ark», which were released in 1977. The Japanese classic wrote only a dozen works, but most of them entered the treasury of world literature.

In 1992, Kobo Abe was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but his death in 1993 deprived him of this award. Kobo Abe is now an elite writer in Japan. He is considered the most «European» among Japanese contemporary writers. His work, on the one hand, is based on the hierographic model of the world of Japan, its intricacy and symbolism, on the other – fueled by the legacy of Western philosophy and culture.

The exhibition presents books by the author and researchers of the Japanese writer's work in Kazakh, Russian and German from the fund of the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

We invite everyone to visit the book exhibition!