As the brevity of this page indicates
there remains much to be added before any sort of claims to comprehensiveness
can be made. This will be a slow process which will begin in what will
hopefully be the not-too-distant future.
Monographs:
Horvat, Andrew. Kobo Abe: Four Stories.
Tokyo: Hara shobô, 1973.
Though somewhat dated, there
is an extensive and informative introduction to the translation of four
of Abe's stories that would be useful to those looking into Abe for
the first time. The stories are presented in both Japanese and English
(Japanese on one side, English on the other) making the text a useful
resource for language learners.
Kimball,
Arthur G.. Crisis in Identity and Contemporary Japanese Novels.
Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1973.
Shields, Nancy K.. Fake fish : the Theater
of Kobo Abe. New York : Weatherhill, 1996.
Yamanouchi, Hisaaki. The Search for Authenticity in Modern Japanese
Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
Dissertations:
Bolton, Christopher Andrew. Science and Fiction
in the Work of Abe Kobo. (Stanford University) Ann Arbor, Mich.: University
Microfilms International, 1998.
Examines Abe's extensive use
of science and scientific terminology. Focuses (though not exclusively)
on three of Abe's novels: Inter Ice Age 4 (Daiyon kanpyôki,
1959), The Face of Another (Tanin no kao, 1964), and Secret
Rendezvous (Mikkai, 1977). One of the primary foci of the
dissertation is to question the distinction between science and art.
Currie, William Joseph. Metaphors of Alienation
: the Fiction of Abe, Beckett and Kafka. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University
Microfilms International, 1977.
Gibeau,
Mark. Transforming
Self and Society: Surrealism, Marxism and Their Integration in the Early
Works of Abe Kôbô. M.A. Thesis for Department of East
Asian Languages and Literatures. August, 1996.
My Master's thesis. I discuss
many of Abe's works up to Suna no onna (Woman in the Dunes,
1962) focusing on the ways surrealism and Marxism appear and develop
in his works. For a master's thesis, i think it is solid, but I am not
entirely unbiased.
Iles, Timothy John Frederick. Towards a New
Community: Abe Kobo: an Exploration of his Prose, Drama and Theatre.
(University of Toronto) Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International,
1997.
This dissertation provides
an overview of Abe's novels as well as his plays, the oft-neglected
"other half" of his literary production. Along with Nancy
Shields' Fake Fish the works provide a good overview of Abe's plays
and the activities of his drama troupe. The dissertation focuses on
the very important theme of the community (kyôdôtai) and
provides some unusually perceptive readings of his works. There is also
a monograph version of the dissertation, but it is extremely difficult
to get, expensive, and exactly the same (so far as I could tell) as
the UMI version, so you are much better off getting that.
Morishige, Alyce Hisae Kawazoe. The Theme of the Self in Modern Japanese
Fiction: Studies on Dazai, Mishima, Abe, and Kawabata. (Probably available
via Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International), 1970.
Articles:
Gibeau,
Mark. "Transformation of the Self: Surrealism in the Early Works
of Abe Kôbô." The CUHK Journal of Humanities. 3 (January
1999).
Essentially the same as the
first chapter of my M.A. thesis, with the sole exception being a series
of annoying typos inserted by a disgruntled editor?
Motoyama, Mutsuko. "The Literature and Politics
of Abe Kôbô." Monumenta Nipponica 50 (Autumn 1995): pp.
305-323.
Yamamoto, Fumiko. "Metamorphosis in Abe
Kôbô's Works." Journal of the Association of Teachers
of Japanese 15 (November 1980): pp. 170-194.