Hometown Complex In KOBO ABE's Existential Novels

Kobo Abe is a famous existential writer in Japanese after World War â…¡. He always cares for the problem of how to choose and the survival condition of human being in modern society. Abe had a very special experience in his early life. He spent most of his time in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. His many years outside Japan and its contemporary cultural life made him to have regard for native land and led him to searching for a sense of belonging which accompanied with a geographical meaning. This kind of emotion was reflected in his early novels. As time moved on, the postwar Japanese society changed greatly. After the Japanese's goal of rebuilding a new society realized, the national cohesion of common people disappeared. They lost their way. Because of the high speed development of capitalist economy, the status of each person descended in the society. Most of them were puzzled and had a strong sense of loneliness. Their inner world couldn't be satisfied in real life and they couldn't obtain self-identification. In addition, they couldn't find the way leading to a brand new mental world. Abe discovered the phenomena exquisitely . In his many later novels He focused on people's difficult position in modern capital society and how to choose the way of life. During the process he gradually gave up being sentimentally attached to the geographical hometown. He kept on looking for the hometown of spirit and soul. Everyone's activity and creativity were emphasized to build a new world which belonged to themselves.The thesis is based on Kobo Abe's novel texts, and it traces a time clue to discuss the hometown complex in his novels. It is composed of five parts. The preface is a brief introduction to Abe's Works in China and the main topics which Abe focus on. Chapter 1 narrates Abe's early life, and that makes him to search for the geographical hometown. In the chapter 2, it concerns that how people who have the geographical hometown lose their mental homeland. Abe's hometown has multiple meaning. The chapter 3 discusses the problem of how to find the outlet in modern life and the possibility of constructing a hometown of soul by using people's positive activity. The last part sums up the whole thesis. This thesis attempts to make a deeper understanding of people's subsistence and choice in Abe's novels through these analysis.