In Japan and abroad, Kobo Abe is known not only as a prose writer, but also as the author of grotesque fantasy plays. One of them is “The Man Who Turned into a Stick” (1969). When a man dies, he turns into a stick. Man has become so small, so inexpressive, that after death he becomes what he was on earth—a wooden stump. He was devoid of feelings, devoid of soul, devoid of spirituality. He was as functional as a stick. And his transformation into such a soulless stick after death is a natural result of this. And the worst thing is, as the Servant of Hell says, that every year there are more and more such sticks. Crazy man...