The Theme Of Absurdity In Kōbō Abe’s Novels

Kōbō Abe is a representative writer of Japanese existentialism literature.He upholds the concept of “involvement” in literary creation based on the social reality of Japan.Under the background of modern times,he is profoundly concerned about the survival problems of individuals,especially in difficult situations.His literary themes were further excavated on the basis of Kafka and Sartre’s literature.Through his unique artistic image and expression techniques,he reflected his deep reflection on the significance of modern life.So he holds an important position in the Japanese literary world and has a certain influence in the contemporary world literature.This thesis focuses on the internal logic of Kōbō Abe’s fiction writing,concentrating on human being’s living behavior in absurd society.We select the novel of Kōbō Abe as the research object.Through the combination of text analysis and theoretical explanation,this paper discusses the theme of the absurdity of Kōbō Abe’s fiction.The thesis starts with the living space of the characters in the works,analyzing the “closure”features of the absurd society,and then through the analysis of the relationship between man and man,and the relationship between man and himself analyzing the nature of absurdity—people’s alienation and heterization.On this basis,this thesis focuses on analyzing the ways in which characters counteract absurdity,aiming to explore the practical significance in Kōbō Abe’s works.That is literature “intervention” of the value of the social life.From the angles of “escape” and “reconstruction”,the thesis analyzes the ways in which the characters in the works confront the absurdity.First,the “escape” absurd situation.In the closed and suffocating situation,the characters chose different escape ways,some fleeing from the enclosed space inward or outward,called the escape from the east to the west.While others are escaping from the same space by changing identities,called the escape of invisibility.Although the characters in the work ultimately failed to escape,but they fled this action reflects the awareness of the absurdity to exist and the courage to fight the courage.Escape is a resistance to the absurd world and aims to gain freedom and new life.But the search for hope and freedom ended fruitlesslyThe second is to discuss the character’s again the absurd self-redemption.Combined with the analysis of works such as “The Sakura Ark”,the characters in Kōbō Abe try to build new life camps.This is the way they face the absurd situation and confront them.But in the process of constructing the so-called “freedom” world,they stepped toward the opposite of freedom.Not only did they fail to regenerate,they felt an insatiable sense of absurdity.This paper meticulously analyzes and rebuilds the “free” action process and reveals the underlying causes of this action paradox.The desire for human rights and the blindness of group are the roots of human irrationality,and the “Ark” of rational society is illusory,and human beings cannot escape and cannot eliminate absurd situations.Through the analysis of the above three levels,this paper tries to reveal the unique performance of the theme of Kōbō Abe’s fiction.Although his literary theme is in line with the absurd theme of Kafka and Sartre’s literature,the performance of Kōbō Abe is focused on the self-consciousness and action courage of the characters in confronting absurdity.In his later years,he passed the failure of the characters in the works to try to tell modern people: absurdity is everywhere,people have nowhere to escape,and they can only face the absurdity and construct a “human being” living space,thus avoiding people being “objects” or “objects” controlling and enslaving.To achieve this kind of freedom,the construction of human spirit is just as important as the construction of social rationality.