Customer Reviews

Beyond the Curve.

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Beyond the Curve by Kobo Abe is one of the best compilations of short stories I've read. His style is like a blend of Rod Serling, Stephen King and Salvador Dali. Each tale is strange and unique and tests the limits of your imagination. As much as I like his other books, this one is my favorite because it runs the gamut of his storytelling style from novels like Woman in the Dunes to the outrageously surreal Kangaroo Notebook. If you haven't read any of Abe's work, Beyond the Curve is a great introduction.

This collection of short stories, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter, is a surreal foray into the illogical and improbable. Kobo Abe is the kind of writer who reminds one of other writers. His Kafkaesque "An Irrelevant Death" places an unexplained corpse in the apartment of A- who must then decide how to dispose of it without suspicion. In another story that recalls Kafka, "Dendrocacalia," a man named Common experiences an unexpected metamorphosis into a rare and sought-after plant. But not all stories evoke Kafka. "The Life of a Poet" embraces the lyrical mythology of Latin American magic realism as a crone is accidentally made into thread and a deadly snow falls made of "crystalline dreams, souls, and desires." Lewis Carroll's convoluted logic surfaces in "The Bet" when an architect for a particular demanding advertising company discovers a world of small doors, head-shaking conversations, and stairs that lead not to an expected succession of floors but instead to places governed by a red light and adages. The bizarre building teaches the architect the logic of the illogical. When he designs "the path of the president's office as a mathematical function of the System," he resolves the story in an entirely fitting way.

Despite the derivative feel to these stories, they are distinctly Abe's. His Japanese sensibilities give them a different twist, for while Kafka chose to change his character into a cockroach, Abe chooses instead to transform his bewildered character into a scrubby plant that grows at high altitudes and which would be quite at home in a government funded hothouse. The author's confidence in the wildness of his imagination gives these stories an authority of voice, allowing for the needed suspension of disbelief. Abe's fictional realm is a difficult one to leave.

It took me a couple of stories to fully appreciate Abe's talents, but I'm glad I continued reading. Readers of Japanese and international fiction should most definitely take a look at Abe's work. Don't expect realism - or anything close to it - because Kobo Abe's fiction exists on another plane.

I really recommend this book, although I only gave it four stars because the stories might be too similar to each other for my taste. I'd like just a little more variety in the range of emotions and plot twists. It is easy to say that Abe is good, of course, because he is such a widely recognized writer. I'd like to say, though, that he is so good that he can actually make a reader angry (many of his stories create a feeling of boxed-in, controlled frustration I never encountered in any other writer).

KA is best known as a novelist, but his short fiction, here in "BTC" is quite engaging. It's too bad this book is not more widely available. Kafka is a strong influence throughout - somewhat shamelessly at times, but who cares: good writing is good writing. 'Intruders' is the best in the collection, about a strange family that knocks on a man's apartment door in the middle of the night and proceeds to take over his apartment and life, making him into a sort of servant. In the opening story, a man comes home to find a corpse in his bed. His decision making is engaging. A few of the stories are duds, but that's generally the case. Worth the time, if you like KA's novels, and Japanese fiction, especially Murakami, who was clearly influenced by KA.

This collection of short stories by Kobo Abe was a challenge for me. I don't generally enjoy short stories that much, and my interest in surrealism is limited. Still, I found them compelling despite the tendency toward studies in frustration. "Intruders" was especially so, with the protagonist powerless against those taking over first his apartment, then his livelihood, and finally his life. My favorite story was "Beguiled," where in a confrontation between two men, one is the pursuer, the other the pursued . . . but which is which? This book was translated from Japanese, and although some of the phrasing seems awkward at times, it actually enhances the overall surrealism of Abe's writing. Definitely worth reading, but only worth full price if this is your favorite genre. Try the local library or used book shop.