{"title":"Kobo Abe","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKōbō Abe\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts narratives that intertwine history with complex human psychology, offering readers a profound exploration of identity and moral ambiguity. His works, such as \u003cem\u003eThe Traitor\u003c\/em\u003e, invite reflection on the impact of past conflicts through compelling historical fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eExpect stories that are both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant, where intricate plots unfold against rich historical backdrops. Abe’s writing challenges perceptions and unveils the nuances of human nature amidst societal change.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"secret-rendezvous-by-kobo-abe-9780241454619","title":"Secret Rendezvous","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSecret Rendezvous\u003c\/em\u003e is a Kafkaesque marvel and a biting satire of bureaucracy, medicine, and modern life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Tokyo, in the middle of the night, an uncalled-for ambulance arrives to spirit away a man's wife, though she is perfectly healthy. He sets out on an epic journey to find her, navigating the labyrinthine corridors of a strange and enormous hospital.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDays into his search, after encountering countless strange characters, odd sexual experiments, and an unmistakable feeling of being watched, he is suddenly appointed as the hospital's chief of security. His new boss is convinced that he is a horse. Throughout it all, he never stops searching for his wife.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46251285283052,"sku":"9780241454619","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780241454619.jpg?v=1741595351"},{"product_id":"the-box-man-by-kobo-abe-9780241454596","title":"The Box Man","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Box Man\u003c\/em\u003e by Kobo Abe is an existential and entertaining masterpiece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is the record of a box man.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe streets of Tokyo have been seeing a strange phenomenon recently—people who have decided to live their lives in a box on the street. Behind their cut-out eyeholes, they sit and watch from behind their four cardboard walls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur nameless narrator, at first repulsed by the box men, slowly becomes drawn into the anonymity and voyeuristic life inside a box. As his identity gradually slips away and he becomes obsessed with watching an intriguing young nurse, we too become privy to the schizophrenic and seductive unreality of a box man's life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46298554106092,"sku":"9780241454596","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26345293482273.jpg?v=1743035781"},{"product_id":"the-ruined-map-by-kobo-abe-9780241454602","title":"The Ruined Map","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ruined Map\u003c\/em\u003e is a hardboiled detective story that combines the narrative suspense of Chandler with the psychological suspense of Dostoevsky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMr Nemuro, a respected salesman, disappeared over half a year ago, but only now does his alluring yet alcoholic wife hire a private eye. The nameless detective has but two clues: a photo and a matchbook.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith these, he embarks upon an ever-more-puzzling pursuit that leads him into the depths of Tokyo's dangerous underworld, where he begins to lose the boundaries of his own identity. Surreal, fast-paced and hauntingly dreamlike, Abe's masterly novel delves into the unknowable mysteries of the human mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46298800685292,"sku":"9780241454602","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26345353482273.jpg?v=1743042848"},{"product_id":"the-woman-in-the-dunes-by-kobo-abe-9780141188522","title":"The Woman in the Dunes","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew to Penguin Modern Classics\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the premier Japanese novels in the twentieth century, \u003cem\u003eThe Woman in the Dunes\u003c\/em\u003e combines the essence of myth, suspense, and the existential novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a remote seaside village, Niki Jumpei, a teacher and amateur entomologist, is held captive with a young woman at the bottom of a vast sand pit where they are pressed into shovelling off the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten the village.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House Distribution","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302768398572,"sku":"9780141188522","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/6687203482238.jpg?v=1743109062"},{"product_id":"the-ark-sakura-by-kobo-abe-9780241675304","title":"The Ark Sakura","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew in Penguin Japanese Classics - a surreal work of apocalyptic science fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIntroducing Penguin Japanese Classics - a collection of some of Japan's most celebrated and ground-breaking 20th-century writers, with covers inspired by Japanese art and design. Taking us from a sun-drenched affair in a seaside town to an underground 'ark' full of shadows and eccentrics, with stops at mountains of skulls, lonely apartments, and boarding school dormitories, this series is perfect for new and long-time readers of Japanese literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA recluse known as 'Mole' retreats to a vast underground bunker, only to find that strange guests, booby traps, and a giant toilet may prove even greater obstacles than nuclear disaster. A science-fiction classic from acclaimed Japanese novelist Kobo Abe, \u003cem\u003eThe Ark Sakura\u003c\/em\u003e's Kafkaesque embrace of nuclear disaster and ecological catastrophe is at turns both hilarious and desperate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOne of Japan's most venerated writers\u003c\/em\u003e - David Mitchell\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated by Juliet Winters Carpenter\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46336677806316,"sku":"9780241675304","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780241675304.jpg?v=1743689300"},{"product_id":"the-ark-sakura-by-kobo-abe-9780241454589","title":"The Ark Sakura","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA surreal work of science fiction from one of Japan's most brilliant novelists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn anticipation of a coming nuclear apocalypse, Mole has converted a huge underground quarry into an \u003cem\u003eark\u003c\/em\u003e. While searching for his crew, he falls for the tricks of a wily insect dealer and his friends. In the surreal drama that ensues, the ark is invaded by first a gang of youths and then a sinister group of elderly people, before Mole himself becomes trapped in the ark's central piece of equipment—a giant toilet powerful enough to flush almost anything out to sea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA science-fiction classic from acclaimed Japanese novelist Kobo Abe, \u003cem\u003eThe Ark Sakura\u003c\/em\u003e's Kafkaesque embrace of nuclear disaster and ecological catastrophe is at turns both hilarious and desperate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46336678232300,"sku":"9780241454589","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26345223482273.jpg?v=1743689355"},{"product_id":"the-traitor-by-kobo-abe-9780231212953","title":"The Traitor","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn postwar Japan, a writer meets a small-town innkeeper who is obsessed with a tale from the nineteenth century. He relates the saga of Enomoto Takeaki, an admiral in the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate who regained authority under the Meiji government. A former member of imperial Japan's military police, the innkeeper dwells on the question of loyalty even as he struggles with his responsibility for the arrest and murder of his brother-in-law during the war. Later, he sends the writer a mysterious manuscript purporting to be the account of a peddler turned samurai whom Enomoto betrayed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart historical fiction, part detective story, \u003ci\u003eThe Traitor\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable novel about navigating changing political landscapes by one of the most significant modern Japanese writers. In his only historical novel, Abe Kōbō turns to a pivotal moment in Japan's past to explore profound questions about the nature of loyalty and the choices that people must make when they encounter forces beyond their control or understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePublished in 1964, when a new generation had begun asking their parents about the war, Abe's tale of betrayal sparked controversy across the political spectrum. The great writer's most important previously untranslated novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Traitor\u003c\/i\u003e displays Abe's literary mastery from a new angle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47307373510892,"sku":"9780231212953","price":41.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8186233482270.jpg?v=1771074206"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/kobo-abe.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}