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, 19361976, 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 Raich, 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 Sowl, Azaleas: A Book of Poems, translated by David McCann (2007)
Wang Anyi, The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: A Novel of Shanghai, translated by Michael Berry with Susan Chan Egan (2008)
Choe Yun, There a Petal Silently Falls: Three Stories by Choe Yun, translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton (2008)
Inoue Yasushi, The Blue Wolf: A Novel of the Life of Chinggis Khan, translated by Joshua A. Fogel (2009)
Anonymous, Courtesans and Opium: Romantic Illusions of the Fool of Yangzhou, translated by Patrick Hanan (2009)
Cao Naiqian, Theres Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night, translated by John Balcom (2009)
Park Wan-suh, Who Ate Up All the Shinga? An Autobiographical Novel, translated by Yu Young-nan and Stephen J. Epstein (2009)
Yi Taejun, Eastern Sentiments, translated by Janet Poole (2009)
Hwang Sunwn, Lost Souls: Stories, translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton (2009)
Kim Sk-pm, The Curious Tale of Mandogis Ghost, translated by Cindy Textor (2010)
Xiaomei Chen, editor, The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama (2011)
Qian Zhongshu, Humans, Beasts, and Ghosts: Stories and Essays, edited by Christopher G. Rea, translated by Dennis T. Hu, Nathan K. Mao, Yiran Mao, Christopher G. Rea, and Philip F. Williams (2011)
Dung Kai-cheung, Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City, translated by Dung Kai-cheung, Anders Hansson, and Bonnie S. McDougall (2012)
O Chnghi, River of Fire and Other Stories, translated by Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton (2012)
End Shsaku, Kikus Prayer: A Novel, translated by Van Gessel (2013)
Li Rui, Trees Without Wind: A Novel, translated by John Balcom (2013)
HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE
Carol Gluck, Editor
Takeuchi Yoshimi, What Is Modernity? Writings of Takeuchi Yoshimi, edited and translated, with an introduction, by Richard F. Calichman (2005)
Contemporary Japanese Thought, edited and translated by Richard F. Calichman (2005)
Overcoming Modernity, edited and translated by Richard F. Calichman (2008)
Natsume Sseki, Theory of Literature and Other Critical Writings, edited and translated by Michael Bourdaghs, Atsuko Ueda, and Joseph A. Murphy (2009)
Kojin Karatani, History and Repetition, edited by Seiji M. Lippit (2012)
The Frontier Within
Essays by Abe Kb
Abe Kb
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
E-ISBN 978-0-231-53509-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abe, Kobo, 19241993.
[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, 19241993. Shi to Shijin. English. III. Title.
PL845. B4A2 2013
895.6'45dc23
2012039752
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at .
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
I am grateful to a number of individuals for helping me secure the copyright to Abes 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 herself, who generously granted the copyright. Particular thanks go to Toba Kji 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 assistance. Finally, let me express my deepest gratitude to Hirayama Keiko and Hirayama Yko, whose patience, support, and hospitality sustained the project throughout, from Paris to Tokyo.
