Describe Regarding Books The Face of Another
| Title | : | The Face of Another |
| Author | : | Kōbō Abe |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 238 pages |
| Published | : | February 4th 2003 by Vintage (first published 1964) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Japan. Asian Literature. Japanese Literature. Science Fiction |
Kōbō Abe
Paperback | Pages: 238 pages Rating: 3.78 | 3177 Users | 225 Reviews
Rendition To Books The Face of Another
Like an elegantly chilling postscript to The Metamorphosis, this classic of postwar Japanese literature describes a bizarre physical transformation that exposes the duplicities of an entire world. The narrator is a scientist hideously deformed in a laboratory accident–a man who has lost his face and, with it, his connection to other people. Even his wife is now repulsed by him. His only entry back into the world is to create a mask so perfect as to be undetectable. But soon he finds that such a mask is more than a disguise: it is an alternate self–a self that is capable of anything. A remorseless meditation on nature, identity and the social contract, The Face of Another is an intellectual horror story of the highest order.Present Books As The Face of Another
| Original Title: | 他人の顔 [Tanin no kao] |
| ISBN: | 0375726535 (ISBN13: 9780375726538) |
| Edition Language: | English URL https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/198/the-face-of-another-by-kobo-abe/ |
Rating Regarding Books The Face of Another
Ratings: 3.78 From 3177 Users | 225 ReviewsCriticize Regarding Books The Face of Another
The world of The Face of Another is the world of Japan in the 1960s , observed through Abe's highly tuned microscope; a world layered in paranoia, in which fast growing technology when not regulated, might create a terrifying nightmarish forecast of the future. Abe explores the foreign - the unknown within man, moving his protagonist in deceptive scenarios, observing his relationship with others, peeling away his external perceptions, to expose the layers within. A scientist's facialCold, creepy & cerebral: just the kind of narrative I dig! Hypnotic & compelling is Abe's tale of the psychological digressions & obsessions of a man who has suffered a grotesque disfigurement- the complete obliteration of his face in a lab accident - his dispassionate dissection of his own thoughts & theories & the radical course of action his musings lead him to take makes for some truly riveting, revelatory reading. The pitfall in this sort of enterprise is that it must
Huge disappointment.I came across Kobo Abe by way of Hiroshi Teshigaharas screen adaptation of The Woman in the Dunes, as well as Pitfall, both of which I regard as masterpieces of Japanese cinema, on par with the films of Kurosawa and the other Japanese greats. This was my first Kobo Abe novel.The premise is very compelling. Not so the execution. I found the prose so impenetrably dull and repetitive that my trying to stay focused to follow the narrators train of thought was quite excruciating.
I can see this becoming my favorite Kobo Abe story after a reread
"The face of another" is a classical Abe novel that has all his hallmark features: verbose, erotic (unusually mild in this novel), with penchant for excessive philosophical rant. This novel was written in the format of a note left by a man, whose face was disfigured in an accident, to his wife. In the first part he argues the significance of one's face for social interactions and the features that constitute different face types. In the second part he talks about his social experiments after
I have been sampling a number of Japanese novelists recently, so I thought I'd give Kobo Abe a try. The blurb and initial few pages of 'The Face of Another' suggested I was in for a Kafkaesque experience, which I was... up to a point. The premise of a man whose face has been destroyed in a laboratory accident, and who attempts to build a new face for himself, sounded promising. Unfortunately, I found the pace and marshalling of events (such as they are) slow and rather flaccid: very wordy, and
Cold, creepy & cerebral: just the kind of narrative I dig! Hypnotic & compelling is Abe's tale of the psychological digressions & obsessions of a man who has suffered a grotesque disfigurement- the complete obliteration of his face in a lab accident - his dispassionate dissection of his own thoughts & theories & the radical course of action his musings lead him to take makes for some truly riveting, revelatory reading. The pitfall in this sort of enterprise is that it must
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