Author(s): Kobo Abe

Art & Music

New in Penguin Japanese Classics - a surreal work of apocalyptic science fiction.

A recluse known as 'Mole' retreats to a vast underground bunker, only to find that strange guests, booby traps and a giant toilet may prove even greater obstacles than nuclear disaster.

A science-fiction classic from acclaimed Japanese novelist Kōbō Abe, The Ark Sakura's Kafkaesque embrace of nuclear disaster and ecological catastrophe is at turns both hilarious and desperate.

'One of Japan's most venerated writers' - David Mitchell.

Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter