WRITER

Kōbō Abe

1924 - 1993

Photo of Kōbō Abe

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Kōbō Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kōbō), pen name of Kimifusa Abe (安部 公房, Abe Kimifusa, March 7, 1924 – January 23, 1993), was a Japanese writer, playwright, and director. His 1962 novel The Woman in the Dunes was made into an award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often been compared to Franz Kafka for his modernist sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Kōbō Abe has received more than 638,155 page views. His biography is available in 55 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 51 in 2019). Kōbō Abe is the 643rd most popular writer (up from 730th in 2019), the 91st most popular biography from Japan (up from 110th in 2019) and the 12th most popular Japanese Writer.

Kōbō Abe is most famous for his novel "The Woman in the Dunes" which is about a man who becomes trapped in a sandpit with a woman and must dig away at the sand to survive.

Memorability Metrics

  • 640k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 70.01

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 55

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.42

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.11

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Kōbō Abe ranks 643 out of 7,302. Before him are Clarice Lispector, Daphne du Maurier, William Makepeace Thackeray, Walther von der Vogelweide, Ivan Franko, and Irène Némirovsky. After him are Alexander Pope, Michael Crichton, Muriel Spark, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Harper Lee.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1924, Kōbō Abe ranks 31. Before him are Willard Boyle, Roger Guillemin, Robert Solow, James Baldwin, Mário Soares, and Sidney Lumet. After him are Black Dahlia, Lee Marvin, Henry Mancini, Truman Capote, Lys Assia, and Amílcar Cabral. Among people deceased in 1993, Kōbō Abe ranks 21. Before him are André the Giant, Bobby Moore, Hans Jonas, Albert Sabin, Inge Lehmann, and Polykarp Kusch. After him are Bill Bixby, Wolfgang Paul, Brandon Lee, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Dizzy Gillespie, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Others Born in 1924

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Others Deceased in 1993

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kōbō Abe ranks 91 out of 6,245. Before him are Himiko (175), Shin'ichirō Tomonaga (1906), Sakamoto Ryōma (1836), Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952), Joe Hisaishi (1950), and Tadamichi Kuribayashi (1891). After him are Kūkai (774), Emperor Itoku (-553), Prince Shōtoku (574), Benkei (1155), Empress Go-Sakuramachi (1740), and Naoto Kan (1946).

Others born in Japan

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Among WRITERS In Japan

Among writers born in Japan, Kōbō Abe ranks 12. Before him are Osamu Dazai (1909), Murasaki Shikibu (973), Kenzaburō Ōe (1935), Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892), Natsume Sōseki (1867), and Kazuo Ishiguro (1954). After him are Sugawara no Michizane (845), Sei Shōnagon (966), Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886), Masaru Emoto (1943), Zeami Motokiyo (1363), and Kobayashi Issa (1763).

Japanese born Writers

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