The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 10 October 2000
by Kobo Abe
In an intriguing postscript to this novel, Kobo Abe (most famous for Woman in the Dunes) invites the reader to contemplate the frightening and "cruel" separation between us in the present and the world of the future. To him, there is a scary amorality to how the future will look upon us in the ignorant past. The discontinuity of the distant future when presented to the inhabitants of the present forms the core element of this very Kafa-esque story. In the not so distant future (the novel was first published in 1959), a machine is invented which, when provided with all the pertinent information, is capable of predicting the future. Its inventor is unsure of the potential of the machine and works with it cautiously. Soon, he is looking at human subjects, and the frightening possibility of predicting an individual's future. When one of his subjects is murdered, though, the Professor is caught up in a web of mystery and invention, which spirals his life out of his own control. The people around him are nothing that they once seemed, and take on a sinister and coldly practical aspect. In many existential twists, we ponder the meaning of what it is to be alive and decisive in our lives. What would we do if we knew our irrevocable futures? The Professor is soon contemplating a future inhabited by water breathing creatures engaging in undersea colonization. But the plot is confusing and somewhat weak (perhaps this is why the book is currently out of print?). Abe sets out to present the moral and philosophical details of the problem at hand: the existential question of meaning in life. What is it that makes us go on? Is it a hope for a smooth continuous future? Is that merely a dream that keeps us secure and free of doubt? In the end, the book only raises the questions without really answering them. It is intriguing and frustrating. I wanted to argue with the characters. And yet, that's one possible sign of a good book.