The Frontier Within: Essays by Abe Kobo

215 Pages·2013·0.75 MB·English

by  Kobo Abe

A
b
e

praise for
k
the frontier Within o
b the frontier Within
o
Abe kobo(1924–1993)was
one of Japan’s greatest postwar writ-
t ers, widely recognized for his imagi-
“The Frontier Within redresses the lopsided and biased understanding of native science fiction and plays of the
h
Abe Kobo as solely a writer of fiction. First and foremost a thinker, he was absurd. However, he also wrote theo-
e
retical criticism for which he is lesser
extremely conscious of the fundamental conditions in which language oper-
known, that merges literary, histori-
ated and human existence was formed. The essays in this volume provide
f cal, and philosophical perspectives
wonderful insight into Abe Kobo’s engagement with imperialism, border
into keen reflections on the nature of
creation, postwar ‘democracy,’ U.S.–Japan relations, and postwar Japa- r
creativity, the evolution of the human
nese Marxism.” o
richard f. calichman species, and an impressive range of
is professor of Japanese studies at the —Atsuko uedA, Princeton university, coeditor of n other subjects.
City College of New York, CUNY. His theory of LiterAture And other criticAL Writings t essays by
previous publications include Overcom- Abe Kobo tackled contemporary social
i
ing Modernity: Cultural Identity in War- a k issues and literary theory with the
be obo
“Beautifully and meticulously translated with a masterful introduction, Abe
time Japan; Contemporary Japanese e depth and facility of a visionary thinker.
Kobo’s dazzling essays confirm his reputation as one of our greatest think-
Thought; What Is Modernity? Writings of Featuring twelve essays from his pro-
r
ers of limit-experiences, with philosophical meditation, literary theory, his-
Takeuchi Yoshimi; and Takeuchi Yoshimi: lific career—including “Poetry and
Displacing the West. torical materialism, and aesthetic practice all brought to bear on the fun- Poets (Consciousness and the Uncon-
W
damental question: how to produce a non-fascist mode of existence within scious),” written in 1944, and “The
art and literature?” i Frontier Within, Part II,” written in
1969—this anthology introduces Eng-
—thomAs LAmArre, trAnsLAtor of deAth sentences And t
edited,translated,and lish-speaking readers to Abe Kobo as
giLbert simondon And the PhiLosoPhy of the trAnsindividuAL
h
critic and intellectual for the first time.
with an introduction by
i Demonstrating the importance of his
richard f.calichman
theoretical work to a broader under-
n
standing of his fiction—and a richer
Weatherhead books on Asia portrait of Japan’s postwar imagina-
tion—Richard F. Calichman provides
coLumbiA university Press/neW york c
o an incisive introduction to Abe Kobo’s
cup.columbia.edu
l achievements and situates his essays
u historically and intellectually.
m
Printed in the U.S.A.
b
i
ISBN: 978-0-231-16386-6
Jacket design: Noah Arlow a
Cover image: Abe Kobo, 1978.
©Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photo. 9 780231 163866
The Frontier Within
Weatherhead Books on asia
Weatherhead east asian institute, ColumBia university
Weatherhead Books on asia
Weatherhead East Asian Institute,
Columbia University
literature
David Der-wei Wang, Editor
Ye Zhaoyan, Nanjing 1937: A Love Story, translated by Michael Berry (2003)
Oda Makato, The Breaking Jewel, translated by Donald Keene (2003)
Han Shaogong, A Dictionary of Maqiao, translated by Julia Lovell (2003)
Takahashi Takako, Lonely Woman, translated by Maryellen Toman Mori (2004)
Chen Ran, A Private Life, translated by John Howard-Gibbon (2004)
Eileen Chang, Written on Water, translated by Andrew F. Jones (2004)
Writing Women in Modern China: The Revolutionary Years, 1936–1976,
edited by Amy D. Dooling (2005)
Han Bangqing, The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai, first
translated by Eileen Chang, revised and edited by Eva Hung (2005)
Loud Sparrows: Contemporary Chinese Short-Shorts,
translated and edited by Aili Mu, Julie Chiu, and Howard Goldblatt (2006)
Hiratsuka Raicho¯, In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun,
translated by Teruko Craig (2006)
Zhu Wen, I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China,
translated by Julia Lovell (2007)
Kim Sowo˘l, Azaleas: A Book of Poems, translated by David McCann (2007)
(Continued following the index)
The Frontier Within
Essays by Abe Ko¯bo¯
Abe Ko¯bo¯
edited, translated, and With an introduCtion
By riChard F. CaliChman
columbia university press
new york
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Kobo Abe
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abe, Kobo, 1924–1993.
[Works. English. Selection.]
The Frontier within : Essays by Abe Kobo. / by Abe Kobo; edited,
translated, and with an introduction by Richard F. Calichman.
pages cm — (Weatherhead books on Asia)
Includes bibliographical references (pages) and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16386-6 (cloth: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-53509-0 (e-book)
I. Calichman, Richard. II. Abe, Kobo, 1924–1993. Shi to Shijin.
English. III. Title.
PL845. B4A2 2013
895.6945—dc23
2012039752
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free
paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover design: Noah Arlow
References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have
expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
“Poetry and Poets (Consciousness and the Unconscious)”
(Shi to shijin [Ishiki to muishiki]) (1944) 1
“Theory and Practice in Literature”
(Bungaku ni okeru riron to jissen) (1954) 18
“The Hand of a Calculator with the Heart of a Beast:
What Is Literature?” (Mo¯ju¯ no kokoro ni keisanki no te wo:
Bungaku to ha nanika) (1955) 30
“Discovering America” (Amerika hakken) (1957) 47
“Does the Visual Image Destroy the Walls of Language?”
(Eizo¯ ha gengo no kabe wo hakai suru ka) (1960) 61
vi Contents
“Artistic Revolution: Theory of the Art Movement”
(Geijutsu no kakumei: Geijutsu undo¯ no riron) (1960) 66
“Possibilities for Education Today: On the Essence of Human
Existence” (Gendai ni okeru kyo¯iku no kano¯sei: Ningen sonzai
no honshitsu ni furete) (1965) 79
“Beyond the Neighbor” (Rinjin wo koeru mono) (1966) 88
“The Military Look” (Miritar¯ı rukku) (1968) 102
“Passport of Heresy” (Itan no pasupo¯to) (1968) 111
“The Frontier Within” (Uchi naru henkyo¯) (1968) 124
“The Frontier Within, Part II”
(Zoku: Uchi naru henkyo¯) (1969) 149
Notes 173
Glossary 177
Index 185
acknowledgments
I am grateful to a number of individuals for helping me secure the copy-
right to Abe’s essays: to Carol Gluck, first of all, whose enthusiastic support
and timely interventions made this project possible; to Donald Keene, who
kindly contacted Abe Neri about the copyright; and finally to Abe Neri her-
self, who generously granted the copyright. Particular thanks go to Toba Ko¯ji
of Waseda University, whose warm collegiality and thorough knowledge of
Abe made him both a friend and an invaluable resource. I am indebted
to the two reviewers of the book, who offered incisive comments, and to
Jennifer Crewe of Columbia University Press for her ongoing editorial assis-
tance. Finally, let me express my deepest gratitude to Hirayama Keiko and
Hirayama Yo¯ko, whose patience, support, and hospitality sustained the proj-
ect throughout, from Paris to Tokyo.
The book is dedicated, with affection, to K.

introduction
In the English-speaking world, the name Abe Ko¯bo¯ typically evokes images
of an existentialist author, one similar to such European writers as Franz
Kafka, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Alberto Moravia in his depiction of the themes
of alienation and the absurd. Abe appears, as several have remarked, as the
most un-Japanese of writers, at least in comparison with such other writ-
ers of his stature as not only Mishima Yukio, his near exact contemporary,
but also Kawabata Yasunari and Tanizaki Jun’ichiro¯. Clearly this reputation
can be attributed in large part to a certain politics of translation, in which
“western” readers and translators both actively—if unconsciously—sought
out those texts of Japanese literature that appeared most exotic and differ-
ent from themselves. With his strange landscapes, abstract allusions, and
theoretical meditations, Abe’s fictional texts struck readers (beginning in the
mid-1960s, with the appearance of his work in English) as utterly unlike
the traditional scenes of cherry blossoms and geisha that they had come
to expect from the various translated novels then in circulation. These
works provided the background against which Abe’s writings were read and
interpreted, with not a little sense of puzzlement. If these novels helped
satisfy a certain craving for the exotic and culturally heterogeneous, thereby