Original language:
Japanese Translated from: French
Authors: Abe, Kobo
Translated by: Baužytė-Čepinskienė, Galina
Full translated source bibliographical description:
Kobo, Abe. Cahier Kangourou. Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1995. (Traduit du japonais par Rene de Ceccatty et Ryoji Nakamura)
ISBN: 9955-601-44-2
Published in: Vilnius
Published on: 2005
Publisher: Versus Aureus
Character of the novel is an average Japanese salary man working in the office supply store. Every employee has to introduce at least one idea per month. The main character thinks of Kangaroo notebook. It is a shapeless notebook which fits in the pocket and has pockets-pouches. The protagonist does not think it is a good idea, more like it is worthless. Next morning he wakes up feeling the itch on his legs. Then the unnamed character looks at his legs, he sees radish sprouts. Surprised of it, he decides to go to the dermatology clinic hoping to get help and recover from this strange “radish” sickness.
People both in the dermatology clinic and in the streets are looking at him strangely. The doctor doesn’t treat him nicely too. Every day the white radish sprouts are growing more and more. Sometimes the main narrator eats his radishes which are growing on his legs and moistens them with his own sweat. From the hunger and misery he kind of eats himself. In the hospital the unnamed character starts his horrific journey to the hell. He goes to the other world via his bed called “Atlaso” which is controlled by his thoughts. In hell the narrator tries to find the explanation to this strange situation. Here he meets his dead mother, vampire nurses, a chiropractor who performs euthanasia, child demons.
Reading this novel sometimes it can be difficult to understand which is real and where the hallucinations start. An ordinary man gets into a strange and absurd situation. The story is full of surrealistic happenings, absurd, symbols, irony and dark humour. The ending of novel is also obscure which makes the reader to analyse and interpret it.
Kobo Abe is a famous writer of XXth century. He was born in 1924 in Tokyo. Kobo Abe spent his childhood and youth in Manchuria. He was studying medicine at the university, graduated but did not work as a doctor. Started his career as an novelist. He became famous in the world with his unique novels, stories, plays. The first novel of Kobo Abe was “Woman in the dunes” which he wrote in 1962, won widespread international acclaim. His last novel “Kangaroo notebook” is interesting and one of the best examples of Japanese surrealism.