Three plays by one of contemporary Japan's most prominent writers-- Involuntary Homicide, The Green Stockings, The Ghost is Here--translated for this volume reveal Kobo Abe's deep love of absurdity in the face of universal concerns.

Three plays by one of contemporary Japan's most prominent writers -- Involuntary Homicide, The Green Stockings, The Ghost is Here -- translated for this volume reveal Kobo Abe's deep love of absurdity in the face of universal concerns.

Of all the great Japanese novelists, Kobe Abe was indubitably the most versatile. With The Ruined Map, he crafted a mesmerizing literary crime novel that combines the narrative suspense of Chandler with the psychological depth of Dostoevsky.

Mr. 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. With these he embarks upon an ever more puzzling pursuit that leads him into the depths of Tokyo's dangerous underworld, where he begins to...

From the acclaimed author of Woman in the Dunes comes Secret Rendezvous, the bizarrely erotic and comic adventures of a man searching for his missing wife in a mysteriously vast underground hospital.
From the moment that an ambulance appears in the middle of the night to take his wife, who protests that she is perfectly healthy, her bewildered husband realizes that things are not as they should be. His covert explorations reveal that the enormous hospital she was taken to is home to a network of constant surveillance, outlandish sex experiments, and an array of very...

""The Woman in the Dunes," " by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel.
After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman....

In 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.

The narrator is a scientist hideously deformed in a laboratory accident - a man who has lost his face and, with it, connection to other people. Even his wife is now repulsed by him. His only entry back into the world is to create a mask so perfect as to be

Ein Mann, eine Frau und der unaufhaltsame Sand.

Als sich Niki Jumpei in den Dünen verliert, bieten ihm die Bewohner eines einsamen Dorfes ein Nachtquartier an - eine Hütte in einem Sandloch. Dort empfängt ihn eine junge Frau in geheimnisvoller Erwartung. Als er am nächsten Tag aufbrechen will, ist die Strickleiter verschwunden. Und durch alle Ritzen der Hütte dringt unablässig der Sand.