WRITER

Kōbō Abe

1924 - 1993

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Kimifusa Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kimifusa; March 7, 1924 – January 23, 1993), known by his pen name Kōbō Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kōbō), was a Japanese writer, playwright and director. His 1962 novel The Woman in the Dunes was made into an award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often been compared to Franz Kafka for his modernist sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society. He died aged 68 of heart failure in Tokyo after a brief illness. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Kōbō Abe is the 632nd most popular writer (up from 642nd in 2019), the 87th most popular biography from Japan (up from 91st in 2019) and the 13th most popular Japanese Writer.

Kōbō Abe is most famous for his novel "The Woman in the Dunes" which is about a man who becomes trapped in a sandpit with a woman and must dig away at the sand to survive.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Kōbō Abe ranks 632 out of 7,302. Before him are Poliziano, Patricia Highsmith, Franz Werfel, André Chénier, Kumārajīva, and Gabriele Amorth. After him are Meera, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aratus, A. J. Cronin, and Allen Ginsberg.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1924, Kōbō Abe ranks 32. Before him are Lys Assia, S. R. Nathan, Billy Wright, Jovanka Broz, Ramiz Alia, and Mário Soares. After him are J. D. Tippit, Sidney Lumet, Ezer Weizman, Benny Hill, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Amílcar Cabral. Among people deceased in 1993, Kōbō Abe ranks 22. Before him are Anthony Burgess, André the Giant, Robert W. Holley, Bobby Moore, Wolfgang Paul, and Brandon Lee. After him are Hans Jonas, Albert Sabin, Bill Bixby, Lillian Gish, Léon Theremin, and Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kōbō Abe ranks 87 out of 6,245. Before him are Ishida Mitsunari (1559), Yoichiro Nambu (1921), Toyotomi Hideyori (1593), Uesugi Kenshin (1530), Naoto Kan (1946), and Empress Michiko (1934). After him are Tsutomu Yamaguchi (1916), Liv Ullmann (1938), Emperor Itoku (-553), Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952), Emperor Go-Momozono (1758), and Junko Tabei (1939).

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Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Kōbō Abe ranks 13. Before him are Osamu Dazai (1909), Kenzaburō Ōe (1935), Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892), Natsume Sōseki (1867), Kazuo Ishiguro (1954), and Sei Shōnagon (966). After him are Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886), Zeami Motokiyo (1363), Masaru Emoto (1943), Kobayashi Issa (1763), Shoko Asahara (1955), and Yosa Buson (1716).

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