Abe's work and style are often compared to Franz Kafka, a writer born in Prague in 1883. Two of Kafka's better known works include The Metamorphosis (1915; English translation 1937), in which a young man wakes up one morning to find that he has been changed into a large bug. The theme of this book, as with most of Kafka's work, is the individual's feelings of inadequacy and isolation in modern civilization. The other book, The Trial (1925; English translation 1937), involves a young man accused of a crime he did not commit, much less understand. He is eventually released but must return to court to repeatedly prove his innocence. Both novels explore the psychological terrors that many people experience in modern-day life.

Another writer to whom Abe is compared is Alain Robbe-Grillet, who was born in Brest, Brittany, in 1922. Robbe-Grillet wrote about characters who...