Beyond the Curve - Kobo Abe

Beyond the Curve is a collection of short stories by Abe Kobo translated by J. W. Carpenter. I picked it up on the off chance at a 2nd-hand bookstore called 'Good Day Books' in Ebisu, Tokyo and it has turned out to be an excellent read. One story in particular has stuck with me, the title is "Record of a Transformation". The narrator, a foot-soldier in the Japanese imperial army in occupied Manchuria, China, comes down with cholera and is unscrupulously beaten and killed off by a passing General under the premise that he was a 'worthless' addition to the Emperor's cause. The spirit of the soldier leaves his decaying body at the road side and rejoins the ranks amongst fellow soldiers on a passing night convoy, on its way to fight for a strategic point. The narrator is thus in the realm of the dead yet still accompanying the living and as the story unfolds other soldiers, including the malicious General die and meet the narrator once more. This literary device provides for some fascinating reader - character -narrator distancing and contrast. Kobo has you hooked on the text from beginning to end.