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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.
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.
238 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Kōbō Abe
207 books1,915 followersKōbō Abe (安部 公房 Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe, was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer, and inventor.
He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.
Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.
He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.
Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.
He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
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March 14, 2015
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 facial vulgarization caused by a lab explosion alienates and victimizes him, spurring him to create a lifelike mask capable of human expression. In the guise of this foolproof mask, he hopes to interact with the world again without the humiliation of his scars and, more personally, to seduce his wife whom he believes has been avoiding him.
Man's soul is in his skin...I have come to observe with the greatest care the appearance of soldiers who have been wounded. And, ultimately, I have come to one conclusion. And it's a distressing one: serious exterior injuries, especially to the face, leave definite mental trauma.
Abe's precise descriptions of the fantastic creation, constructed with the realism of a technologically sophisticated lab experiment, the structure of a suspense thriller with a science fiction theme, make for very intriguing mad-scientist material. His artfulness detail the typical Japanese obsession with faces, selfhood and social roles of the time, and perhaps, more psychologically, an experiment of the theory that man validates his ego only through others. In the novel, the narrator because of his injury, experiences isolation, loneliness, a loss of self; a monstrous outcast, questioning and uncertain of the value of his life.
I can hardly believe that the face is so important to a man's existence. A man's worth should be gauged by the content of his work; possibly the convolutions of the surface of the brain have something to do with it, but his face certainly does not. If the loss of a face can cause conspicuous change in the scale of evaluation, it may well be owing to a fundamental emptiness of content.
In his altered self, no longer hidden behind the old visage, his true nature surfaces. When the play-acting scheme with his wife backfires, he becomes blindly jealous of this 'other' self, and is driven by maniacal rage as the twisted revelation unfolds.
Abe's novel brings classic sci-fi thriller components into an intricate rumination on the self, ego, otherness and the accepted ideal of what is normal. Consequentially and conceptually, what is normal or alien becomes directly under scrutiny. Abe ingeniously masks some condemning messages by inventing a scientist who suffers deforming scars distinctly similar to those of Hiroshima victims. Secondly, Abe compares the scientist's fate with Japanese-Koreans who, despite indiscernible features to their Japanese co-habitants, persistently suffered prejudice.
The Face of Another is a story of metamorphosis from normal to monstrous, a Jekyll and Hyde story, an ill state that is directly in opposition to an idyll one. Abe suggests that within the seemingly normal external self solemnly lurks the internal alien.
Is what you think to be the mask in reality your real face, or is what you think to be your real face really a mask?
Read in August, 2014
*photos are scenes from the 1966 movie adaptation directed by Hiroshi Teshigara.
A scientist's facial vulgarization caused by a lab explosion alienates and victimizes him, spurring him to create a lifelike mask capable of human expression. In the guise of this foolproof mask, he hopes to interact with the world again without the humiliation of his scars and, more personally, to seduce his wife whom he believes has been avoiding him.
Man's soul is in his skin...I have come to observe with the greatest care the appearance of soldiers who have been wounded. And, ultimately, I have come to one conclusion. And it's a distressing one: serious exterior injuries, especially to the face, leave definite mental trauma.
Abe's precise descriptions of the fantastic creation, constructed with the realism of a technologically sophisticated lab experiment, the structure of a suspense thriller with a science fiction theme, make for very intriguing mad-scientist material. His artfulness detail the typical Japanese obsession with faces, selfhood and social roles of the time, and perhaps, more psychologically, an experiment of the theory that man validates his ego only through others. In the novel, the narrator because of his injury, experiences isolation, loneliness, a loss of self; a monstrous outcast, questioning and uncertain of the value of his life.
I can hardly believe that the face is so important to a man's existence. A man's worth should be gauged by the content of his work; possibly the convolutions of the surface of the brain have something to do with it, but his face certainly does not. If the loss of a face can cause conspicuous change in the scale of evaluation, it may well be owing to a fundamental emptiness of content.
In his altered self, no longer hidden behind the old visage, his true nature surfaces. When the play-acting scheme with his wife backfires, he becomes blindly jealous of this 'other' self, and is driven by maniacal rage as the twisted revelation unfolds.
Abe's novel brings classic sci-fi thriller components into an intricate rumination on the self, ego, otherness and the accepted ideal of what is normal. Consequentially and conceptually, what is normal or alien becomes directly under scrutiny. Abe ingeniously masks some condemning messages by inventing a scientist who suffers deforming scars distinctly similar to those of Hiroshima victims. Secondly, Abe compares the scientist's fate with Japanese-Koreans who, despite indiscernible features to their Japanese co-habitants, persistently suffered prejudice.
The Face of Another is a story of metamorphosis from normal to monstrous, a Jekyll and Hyde story, an ill state that is directly in opposition to an idyll one. Abe suggests that within the seemingly normal external self solemnly lurks the internal alien.
Is what you think to be the mask in reality your real face, or is what you think to be your real face really a mask?
Read in August, 2014
*photos are scenes from the 1966 movie adaptation directed by Hiroshi Teshigara.
August 2, 2023
"Esto es, ni más ni menos, estar en una cárcel"
Kobo Abe es un escritor que me agrada notablemente. Admiro mucho su forma de escribir. Este es el tercer libro luego de haber leído la recopilación de cuentos “Los cuentos siniestros” y otra de sus novelas más conocidas, “Encuentros secretos”.
Pero en este caso, debo reconocer que me costó muchísimo terminar el libro. Tal vez haya ocurrido esto por la densísima prosa reflexiva y los cuestionamientos existencialistas del personaje principal.
La novela se compone de tres largos capítulos divididos en “Cuadernos” de color blanco, negro y gris más una carta escrita por su esposa.
En el primer cuaderno nos encontramos con una ampliada descripción del accidente por el cual este hombre ha perdido su rostro a partir de un accidente luego de una explosión con oxígeno líquido, posteriormente el intento de fabricar una máscara para poder mostrarse en público nuevamente y finalmente el desarrollo de su interacción con la sociedad.
Las reflexiones son tantas y tan complejas que no le dan respiro a uno para poder elaborar una reseña simple. Este personaje está abrumado por el suceso que lo lleva a utilizar vendas para tapar ese “nido de sanguijuelas” como él denomina a su rostro deformado.
Es indudable la conexión con Kafka. Por momentos, el personaje se encuentra en una situación de vulnerabilidad y de lejanía desesperante con la gente que interactúa. Está frustrado y lo exterioriza con cada persona que se encuentra y lo que es peor para su problema, no logra hacer contacto, se siente alienado y con deseos de poder ser entendido.
Llega un momento en que cuando logra diseñar una máscara de rasgos muy reales comienza a definirla como a una entidad con autonomía propia. De hecho habla de la máscara en tercera persona, como su fuera otro personaje.
En líneas generales el libro me gustó pero tan sólo eso y cuesta mucho encontrar frases contundentes, de esas que lo hacen pensar a uno.
Tal vez su comparación con la criatura de Frankenstein sea la que más se asemeja a la sensación que atraviesa cuando algunos personajes pueden ver su rostro destruido. El rechazo y la compasión afloran a la par ante la posibilidad de verlo sin su vendas.
Todavía no leí “La mujer de arena”, ni “El hombre caja” o “El mapa calcinado”. Espero que esas novelas se asemejen más a los libros que más me apasionaron que a este autor.
Y de todas maneras, Kobo Abe sigue siendo “el Kafka japonés” y uno de los escritores más originales que haya tenido el gusto de descubrir y leer.
Kobo Abe es un escritor que me agrada notablemente. Admiro mucho su forma de escribir. Este es el tercer libro luego de haber leído la recopilación de cuentos “Los cuentos siniestros” y otra de sus novelas más conocidas, “Encuentros secretos”.
Pero en este caso, debo reconocer que me costó muchísimo terminar el libro. Tal vez haya ocurrido esto por la densísima prosa reflexiva y los cuestionamientos existencialistas del personaje principal.
La novela se compone de tres largos capítulos divididos en “Cuadernos” de color blanco, negro y gris más una carta escrita por su esposa.
En el primer cuaderno nos encontramos con una ampliada descripción del accidente por el cual este hombre ha perdido su rostro a partir de un accidente luego de una explosión con oxígeno líquido, posteriormente el intento de fabricar una máscara para poder mostrarse en público nuevamente y finalmente el desarrollo de su interacción con la sociedad.
Las reflexiones son tantas y tan complejas que no le dan respiro a uno para poder elaborar una reseña simple. Este personaje está abrumado por el suceso que lo lleva a utilizar vendas para tapar ese “nido de sanguijuelas” como él denomina a su rostro deformado.
Es indudable la conexión con Kafka. Por momentos, el personaje se encuentra en una situación de vulnerabilidad y de lejanía desesperante con la gente que interactúa. Está frustrado y lo exterioriza con cada persona que se encuentra y lo que es peor para su problema, no logra hacer contacto, se siente alienado y con deseos de poder ser entendido.
Llega un momento en que cuando logra diseñar una máscara de rasgos muy reales comienza a definirla como a una entidad con autonomía propia. De hecho habla de la máscara en tercera persona, como su fuera otro personaje.
En líneas generales el libro me gustó pero tan sólo eso y cuesta mucho encontrar frases contundentes, de esas que lo hacen pensar a uno.
Tal vez su comparación con la criatura de Frankenstein sea la que más se asemeja a la sensación que atraviesa cuando algunos personajes pueden ver su rostro destruido. El rechazo y la compasión afloran a la par ante la posibilidad de verlo sin su vendas.
Todavía no leí “La mujer de arena”, ni “El hombre caja” o “El mapa calcinado”. Espero que esas novelas se asemejen más a los libros que más me apasionaron que a este autor.
Y de todas maneras, Kobo Abe sigue siendo “el Kafka japonés” y uno de los escritores más originales que haya tenido el gusto de descubrir y leer.
December 5, 2018
Bu yorumum Yattaa Dergisi'nin Kasım 2018 sayısı için yazdığım yazının kopyasıdır. Yazının linki aşağıdadır.
http://japonsinemasi.com/kobo-abeden-...
Monokl Yayınları geçtiğimiz sene içerisinde Kobo Abe'nin “Kumların Kadını” isimli eserini Barış Bayıksel imzalı çeviriyle bizlerle buluşturmuştu. Fakat en önemlisi “Kumların Kadını”nı sunarken, yazarın diğer kitaplarını da en kısa zamanla yayımlayacaklarının müjdesini vermişlerdi. Nitekim bu vaat kısa süre sonra yayımlanan “Kanguru Defteri” ile doğrulanmıştı. Yayıneviyle yaptığım görüşmeye dayanarak söyleyebilirim ki, Abe’nin “Kutu Adam” isimli romanı hariç, diğer romanlarını sırasıyla yayımlayacaklar. “Kutu Adam” ise telif haklarını alan Sel Yayınları tarafından önümüzdeki günlerde bizimle buluşacak. Monokl’un bu güzel Kobo Abe serisinin üçüncü kitabı ise geçtiğimiz aylarda basılan “Başkasının Yüzü” oldu.
Kobo Abe, Japon edebiyatı dendiğinde akıllara ilk gelen yazarlardan birisidir şüphesiz. Her biri şahsına münhasır olan Japon romancıları içerisinde; yarattığı dünyalarla okurların gözünde bambaşka bir yerde konumlanmış, her yazdığı eseriyle bu konumunu sağlamlaştırmıştır. İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın karanlık ortamı öncesi; 1943 senesinde, Tokyo’da tıp okumaya başlayan Abe, bu yıllarda ilk yazınsal eserlerini vermiştir.
Ne kadar tıp okusa da ziyadesiyle edebiyatla ilgili olagelmiştir. Bir yandan da felsefe konusunda sahip olduğu açlık onu sürekli okumalara, hatta tıp eğitimi almasına rağmen bu alandan uzaklaşmasına sebep olacak bir ruh haline sevk etmiştir. Neticede 1948 senesinde üniversite eğitimini sonlandırmasına rağmen, doktor olmak için özel bir çaba sarf etmemiş ve kendini edebiyat çalışmalarına adamıştır. Bu yıllar yazarın ilk ciddiye aldığı edebi çalışmalarının da meydana çıktığı yıllar olmuş, Kobo Abe arka arkaya eserlerini yayımlanmıştır.
Zamanın yargısından geçen ve şimdilerde 20.yy’ın en önemli romanlarından biri olarak gösterilen “Kumların Kadını” yazıldığı dönem de oldukça ses getirmiştir. Japonya’da Akutagawa Ödülü’ne layık görülen, batıda da çevrildikten sonra yoğun ilgiyle karşılanan roman aynı zamanda yazarın ününü pekiştirecek bir işbirliğine de sebep olmuştur.
Japon yönetmen Hiroshi Teshigahara ile yapılan bu işbirlik, ikilinin sonraki yıllarda da meyve verecek birleşmesinin ilk ürünü olan “Suna no Onna (Kumların Kadını, 1964)” filmiyle taçlanmıştır. “Kumların Kadını” kitabı ve filminin göz kamaştıran başarısı ayrı bir yazının konusu olabilecek bir öyküdür. Asıl önemli olan, o dönem bu kadar parlayan bir yazarın bir sonraki eserinin ne olacağına dair olan meraktır.
Sene 1964’ü gösterdiğinde “Kumların Kadını” filmiyle halen fırtına misali isminden bahsettiren Kobo Abe “Başkasının Yüzü” isimli romanını yayımladı. Beklentiyi bir hayli yükselten Abe yeni romanında kendisinden beklenen derinleşmeyi sağlama başarısını gösterdi ve edebiyat tarihine bu efsane alegorik metni hediye etti. Bu romanla Abe “Kumların Kadını” romanında sinyallerini verdiği felsefi yoğunluğu daha katmanlı bir şekilde hikâyesine yedirerek dünya okuyucusunu mest etti. Bu kez kumlardaki öykü kadar rahat izlenebilen ve üstten de okunabilen bir öykü kaleme almamış olsa da, titizlikle incelendiğinde her katmanında ayrı bir felsefi düşüncenin yeşerdiği zengin ve olgun bir roman ortaya koymuştu.
Başkasının Yüzü
Roman, bir kimyager olan başkarakterin yazdığı üç defterden oluşuyor. Yanlış bir karışım sonucu gerçekleşen mesleki bir patlamada karakterin yüzü tamamen kimyasal maddeye bulanmış ve yanmıştır. Ancak bunun sonucunda deri olması gerekenden daha çok iyileşme yaratıp, birbirinin üzerine geçmiş et dokusunda, sülükümsü bir hale doğru eğrilmiştir. Bu tıbbi durum bazı insanların cildinde meydana gelen anormal bir durummuş aslında. İşin en hazin tarafı ise bu anormalliğin herhangi bir estetik operasyonla düzeltilebilir olmamasıymış.
Haliyle karakterimiz yüzsüz kalmış ve kendisi dâhil herkesi korkutan bu yüzü sargılarla sakladığı bir hayata merhaba demiştir. Ancak bir gün yüzünün yerine bir maske yerleştirebileceği fikrine tutunur ve bunun üzerine çalışmaya başlar. Ancak bu yeni yüz(!) onun kendi biyolojik yüzü gibi olabilecek midir? Yoksa tamamen farklı bir insan mı olacaktır? Bu haliyle yaşayacağı yaşamın ne kadarı ona kalacak, onunla yaşayanlar ne kadarını onunla yaşamış gibi sayacaktır?
Yeni bir yüz, eski ‘O’nu dünyadan silecektir. Hoş olduğu haliyle de eski kendisine artık çok uzaktır. Bu ve bunun gibi yüzlerce sorunun peşinde, kaybettiği yüzünün arkasından aslında benliğini bulma çabasıyla kıvranan bir insandan başkası değildir karakter.
“Kumların Kadını” isimli romanında da sırtını metaforlara yaslayan Abe, burada tıp bilgisini de yanına alarak, akıl almaz, çoğunlukla okuru yüzünü okşamaya iten bir metaforlar silsilesi yaratmıştır. Bu tarz anlatıların en büyük handikabı olan inandırıcılıktan uzaklaşma hatasına düşmemiştir Kobo Abe. Hatta karakterin maske yapımına harcadığı çaba o kadar ayrıntılı ve edebi olmaktan ziyade bilimsel bir dille aktarılmış ki inanmamak imkânsız hale getirilmiş. Bu yüzden bir süre sonra siz de ‘yüz’süz bir halde kitabı elinizde tutuyor ve o ana kadar sahip olmamanın getireceklerini asla düşünmediğiniz yüzünüze farklı bir gözle bakmaya başlıyorsunuz. Diğer yandan yüz, maske ve kimlik üçgeninde; karakterin travmasından beslenen bu anlatı, son derece etkileyici bir edebi okuma sunmuş. Zira karakterin zihinsel enkazında dolaşırken, onun tüm korkusu, sorgusu ve nefreti farkına varmadan kitabı elinde tutan biz okurlara geçiyor. Maskesini bir “öteki”ye dönüştüren ve bununla da şizofrenik bir çatışma yaşayan karakterle yaşanan en küçük özdeşleşme, sahip olduğumuz yüzlerin kimliğimize olan doğal ve müdahale edilemez etkisi üzerine düşünmemize sebep oluyor.
Ingmar Bergman’ın “Persona” isimli filminin sonunda yaşadığımız yabancılaşma, burada kendini acımasız bir özdeşleşmenin yerine bırakıyor, fakat belki de çok daha güçlü bir yabancılaşma bu şekilde meydana geliyor.
İçinde yaşadığımız zamanların temel sorunlarından olan sistemin yalnızlaştırdığı insan tipinden ne kadar kaçmaya çalışsak da, ne kadar varoluşsal problemlerden uzak durmak için çaba sarf etsek de bazen tam göbeğinde durup, hayata oradan bakmak, karanlık tarafımıza daha iyi gelebilir. Kobo Abe bu irkilmeyi çok iyi sağlıyor. Tıpkı “Kumların Kadını”nın sonunda bizi bıraktığı nokta gibi, “Başkasının Yüzü”ndeki son nokta da gelip bizi tam kalbimizden vuruyor.
Not: Ayrıca filmin 1966 tarihli, Hiroshi Teshigahara tarafından yönetilen bir uyarlaması vardır. Teshigahara ile Abe’nin ikinci işbirliği olan bu film de tıpkı “Kumların Kadını” ve daha sonra gelecek diğer iki film gibi, kitaptan sonra mutlaka izlenmeyi hak etmektedir.
8.5/10
http://japonsinemasi.com/kobo-abeden-...
Monokl Yayınları geçtiğimiz sene içerisinde Kobo Abe'nin “Kumların Kadını” isimli eserini Barış Bayıksel imzalı çeviriyle bizlerle buluşturmuştu. Fakat en önemlisi “Kumların Kadını”nı sunarken, yazarın diğer kitaplarını da en kısa zamanla yayımlayacaklarının müjdesini vermişlerdi. Nitekim bu vaat kısa süre sonra yayımlanan “Kanguru Defteri” ile doğrulanmıştı. Yayıneviyle yaptığım görüşmeye dayanarak söyleyebilirim ki, Abe’nin “Kutu Adam” isimli romanı hariç, diğer romanlarını sırasıyla yayımlayacaklar. “Kutu Adam” ise telif haklarını alan Sel Yayınları tarafından önümüzdeki günlerde bizimle buluşacak. Monokl’un bu güzel Kobo Abe serisinin üçüncü kitabı ise geçtiğimiz aylarda basılan “Başkasının Yüzü” oldu.
Kobo Abe, Japon edebiyatı dendiğinde akıllara ilk gelen yazarlardan birisidir şüphesiz. Her biri şahsına münhasır olan Japon romancıları içerisinde; yarattığı dünyalarla okurların gözünde bambaşka bir yerde konumlanmış, her yazdığı eseriyle bu konumunu sağlamlaştırmıştır. İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın karanlık ortamı öncesi; 1943 senesinde, Tokyo’da tıp okumaya başlayan Abe, bu yıllarda ilk yazınsal eserlerini vermiştir.
Ne kadar tıp okusa da ziyadesiyle edebiyatla ilgili olagelmiştir. Bir yandan da felsefe konusunda sahip olduğu açlık onu sürekli okumalara, hatta tıp eğitimi almasına rağmen bu alandan uzaklaşmasına sebep olacak bir ruh haline sevk etmiştir. Neticede 1948 senesinde üniversite eğitimini sonlandırmasına rağmen, doktor olmak için özel bir çaba sarf etmemiş ve kendini edebiyat çalışmalarına adamıştır. Bu yıllar yazarın ilk ciddiye aldığı edebi çalışmalarının da meydana çıktığı yıllar olmuş, Kobo Abe arka arkaya eserlerini yayımlanmıştır.
Zamanın yargısından geçen ve şimdilerde 20.yy’ın en önemli romanlarından biri olarak gösterilen “Kumların Kadını” yazıldığı dönem de oldukça ses getirmiştir. Japonya’da Akutagawa Ödülü’ne layık görülen, batıda da çevrildikten sonra yoğun ilgiyle karşılanan roman aynı zamanda yazarın ününü pekiştirecek bir işbirliğine de sebep olmuştur.
Japon yönetmen Hiroshi Teshigahara ile yapılan bu işbirlik, ikilinin sonraki yıllarda da meyve verecek birleşmesinin ilk ürünü olan “Suna no Onna (Kumların Kadını, 1964)” filmiyle taçlanmıştır. “Kumların Kadını” kitabı ve filminin göz kamaştıran başarısı ayrı bir yazının konusu olabilecek bir öyküdür. Asıl önemli olan, o dönem bu kadar parlayan bir yazarın bir sonraki eserinin ne olacağına dair olan meraktır.
Sene 1964’ü gösterdiğinde “Kumların Kadını” filmiyle halen fırtına misali isminden bahsettiren Kobo Abe “Başkasının Yüzü” isimli romanını yayımladı. Beklentiyi bir hayli yükselten Abe yeni romanında kendisinden beklenen derinleşmeyi sağlama başarısını gösterdi ve edebiyat tarihine bu efsane alegorik metni hediye etti. Bu romanla Abe “Kumların Kadını” romanında sinyallerini verdiği felsefi yoğunluğu daha katmanlı bir şekilde hikâyesine yedirerek dünya okuyucusunu mest etti. Bu kez kumlardaki öykü kadar rahat izlenebilen ve üstten de okunabilen bir öykü kaleme almamış olsa da, titizlikle incelendiğinde her katmanında ayrı bir felsefi düşüncenin yeşerdiği zengin ve olgun bir roman ortaya koymuştu.
Başkasının Yüzü
Roman, bir kimyager olan başkarakterin yazdığı üç defterden oluşuyor. Yanlış bir karışım sonucu gerçekleşen mesleki bir patlamada karakterin yüzü tamamen kimyasal maddeye bulanmış ve yanmıştır. Ancak bunun sonucunda deri olması gerekenden daha çok iyileşme yaratıp, birbirinin üzerine geçmiş et dokusunda, sülükümsü bir hale doğru eğrilmiştir. Bu tıbbi durum bazı insanların cildinde meydana gelen anormal bir durummuş aslında. İşin en hazin tarafı ise bu anormalliğin herhangi bir estetik operasyonla düzeltilebilir olmamasıymış.
Haliyle karakterimiz yüzsüz kalmış ve kendisi dâhil herkesi korkutan bu yüzü sargılarla sakladığı bir hayata merhaba demiştir. Ancak bir gün yüzünün yerine bir maske yerleştirebileceği fikrine tutunur ve bunun üzerine çalışmaya başlar. Ancak bu yeni yüz(!) onun kendi biyolojik yüzü gibi olabilecek midir? Yoksa tamamen farklı bir insan mı olacaktır? Bu haliyle yaşayacağı yaşamın ne kadarı ona kalacak, onunla yaşayanlar ne kadarını onunla yaşamış gibi sayacaktır?
Yeni bir yüz, eski ‘O’nu dünyadan silecektir. Hoş olduğu haliyle de eski kendisine artık çok uzaktır. Bu ve bunun gibi yüzlerce sorunun peşinde, kaybettiği yüzünün arkasından aslında benliğini bulma çabasıyla kıvranan bir insandan başkası değildir karakter.
“Kumların Kadını” isimli romanında da sırtını metaforlara yaslayan Abe, burada tıp bilgisini de yanına alarak, akıl almaz, çoğunlukla okuru yüzünü okşamaya iten bir metaforlar silsilesi yaratmıştır. Bu tarz anlatıların en büyük handikabı olan inandırıcılıktan uzaklaşma hatasına düşmemiştir Kobo Abe. Hatta karakterin maske yapımına harcadığı çaba o kadar ayrıntılı ve edebi olmaktan ziyade bilimsel bir dille aktarılmış ki inanmamak imkânsız hale getirilmiş. Bu yüzden bir süre sonra siz de ‘yüz’süz bir halde kitabı elinizde tutuyor ve o ana kadar sahip olmamanın getireceklerini asla düşünmediğiniz yüzünüze farklı bir gözle bakmaya başlıyorsunuz. Diğer yandan yüz, maske ve kimlik üçgeninde; karakterin travmasından beslenen bu anlatı, son derece etkileyici bir edebi okuma sunmuş. Zira karakterin zihinsel enkazında dolaşırken, onun tüm korkusu, sorgusu ve nefreti farkına varmadan kitabı elinde tutan biz okurlara geçiyor. Maskesini bir “öteki”ye dönüştüren ve bununla da şizofrenik bir çatışma yaşayan karakterle yaşanan en küçük özdeşleşme, sahip olduğumuz yüzlerin kimliğimize olan doğal ve müdahale edilemez etkisi üzerine düşünmemize sebep oluyor.
Ingmar Bergman’ın “Persona” isimli filminin sonunda yaşadığımız yabancılaşma, burada kendini acımasız bir özdeşleşmenin yerine bırakıyor, fakat belki de çok daha güçlü bir yabancılaşma bu şekilde meydana geliyor.
İçinde yaşadığımız zamanların temel sorunlarından olan sistemin yalnızlaştırdığı insan tipinden ne kadar kaçmaya çalışsak da, ne kadar varoluşsal problemlerden uzak durmak için çaba sarf etsek de bazen tam göbeğinde durup, hayata oradan bakmak, karanlık tarafımıza daha iyi gelebilir. Kobo Abe bu irkilmeyi çok iyi sağlıyor. Tıpkı “Kumların Kadını”nın sonunda bizi bıraktığı nokta gibi, “Başkasının Yüzü”ndeki son nokta da gelip bizi tam kalbimizden vuruyor.
Not: Ayrıca filmin 1966 tarihli, Hiroshi Teshigahara tarafından yönetilen bir uyarlaması vardır. Teshigahara ile Abe’nin ikinci işbirliği olan bu film de tıpkı “Kumların Kadını” ve daha sonra gelecek diğer iki film gibi, kitaptan sonra mutlaka izlenmeyi hak etmektedir.
8.5/10
September 11, 2023
Told in the form of notebooks by a lab scientist who is left with leech-like scars after an accident, this was another odd Kōbō Abe novel that looks at themes like loneliness, alienation, and identity - duel identity, after a lifelike mask is constructed by a specialist known as K, which sees the scientist's split identities vying for the affections of his wife. Definitely had more of a psychological horror feel to it along with a more complex nature when compared to The Woman in the Dunes & The Box Man, but I can't say it was particularly any better than either of those.
For me it got way too technical about skin cells and such when considering the calculations of creating the mask, but there were things I found to be ever so startling about the novel that really got under my skin. I've seen this sort of thing numerous times in movies, but the one it got me thinking about the most - even though both are different in many ways - was the 1960 French film Eyes Without a Face.
May 17, 2019
مرد بر اثر حادثهای، چهرهاش را از دست میدهد. نقابی برای خود میسازد و با آن، همسرش را اغوا میکند. آیا زن خیانتکار است؟ مرد چطور؟
پرسونا یا نقاب در آموزههای یونگ، آن چهرهای است که افراد در جامعه از خود نشان میدهند. چهرهای که شاید متفاوت باشد با چهرهای که در خلوت خود داریم. این مفهوم به این معنا نیست که آدمها، نقش بازی میکنند و یا اساساً پرسونا از نظر بار ارزشی منفی است، تا وقتی که جامعه نخواهد فردیت افراد را زیر پا بگذارد و چیزی به آنها تحمیل کند. راوی این کتاب مدام با خود در جدال است. او چهره را تنها راه شناخت آدمها و ارتباطشان با یکدیگر میداند و حالا که چهرهاش را از دست داده، حتی نمیتواند با نزدیکترین آدم زندگیاش، همسرش ارتباط داشته باشد. با اینحال او مدام، چهرهای که آدمها از خود نشان میدهند را زیر سؤال میبرد. از کجا معلوم دیگران هم خودشان باشند؟ درست است که نقاب او مصنوعی است ولی دیگران هم کمتر از او در فریب دادن اطرافیانشان موفق نبودهاند.
بخش زیادی از روایت کتاب، ذهنی است و در ذهن راوی میگذرد و همین باعث میشود فضاسازی و دیالوگ کمتر شود و خواننده را خسته کند. از بین چهار کتابی که از کوبو آبه خواندم، زن د�� ریگ روان همچنان بهترین کار اوست.
پرسونا یا نقاب در آموزههای یونگ، آن چهرهای است که افراد در جامعه از خود نشان میدهند. چهرهای که شاید متفاوت باشد با چهرهای که در خلوت خود داریم. این مفهوم به این معنا نیست که آدمها، نقش بازی میکنند و یا اساساً پرسونا از نظر بار ارزشی منفی است، تا وقتی که جامعه نخواهد فردیت افراد را زیر پا بگذارد و چیزی به آنها تحمیل کند. راوی این کتاب مدام با خود در جدال است. او چهره را تنها راه شناخت آدمها و ارتباطشان با یکدیگر میداند و حالا که چهرهاش را از دست داده، حتی نمیتواند با نزدیکترین آدم زندگیاش، همسرش ارتباط داشته باشد. با اینحال او مدام، چهرهای که آدمها از خود نشان میدهند را زیر سؤال میبرد. از کجا معلوم دیگران هم خودشان باشند؟ درست است که نقاب او مصنوعی است ولی دیگران هم کمتر از او در فریب دادن اطرافیانشان موفق نبودهاند.
بخش زیادی از روایت کتاب، ذهنی است و در ذهن راوی میگذرد و همین باعث میشود فضاسازی و دیالوگ کمتر شود و خواننده را خسته کند. از بین چهار کتابی که از کوبو آبه خواندم، زن د�� ریگ روان همچنان بهترین کار اوست.
June 1, 2013
Huge disappointment.
I came across Kobo Abe by way of Hiroshi Teshigahara’s 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 narrator’s train of thought was quite excruciating. Poignant insights or thought-provoking ideas are either few and far between, or else well disguised, locked within closed loops of quasi-philosophical non sequiturs—ostensibly the protagonist’s jotted-down musings on such themes as identity, alienation, and sexual desire—which make up the bulk of the novel.
Maybe there is profound insight and meaning to be had from some of those passages. Then again, maybe not. Actually, it doesn’t matter. For me, a piece of well-wrought fiction conveys its meaning on many levels, and can be appreciated without being ‘understood’ (whatever that means). With a prose that is clunky, circuitous, riddled with inane similes (e.g. ‘a wretched feeling, like wearing wet socks’) and makes use of the phrase ‘in heaven’s name’ on every other page, ‘The Face of Another’ is just poor craftsmanship. Simple as that.
I fail to see why anyone would want to wade through this heap of literary refuse in search of a few (perhaps) well-hidden nuggets of philosophical insight.
I came across Kobo Abe by way of Hiroshi Teshigahara’s 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 narrator’s train of thought was quite excruciating. Poignant insights or thought-provoking ideas are either few and far between, or else well disguised, locked within closed loops of quasi-philosophical non sequiturs—ostensibly the protagonist’s jotted-down musings on such themes as identity, alienation, and sexual desire—which make up the bulk of the novel.
Maybe there is profound insight and meaning to be had from some of those passages. Then again, maybe not. Actually, it doesn’t matter. For me, a piece of well-wrought fiction conveys its meaning on many levels, and can be appreciated without being ‘understood’ (whatever that means). With a prose that is clunky, circuitous, riddled with inane similes (e.g. ‘a wretched feeling, like wearing wet socks’) and makes use of the phrase ‘in heaven’s name’ on every other page, ‘The Face of Another’ is just poor craftsmanship. Simple as that.
I fail to see why anyone would want to wade through this heap of literary refuse in search of a few (perhaps) well-hidden nuggets of philosophical insight.
January 18, 2021
3,5 ⭐️
October 19, 2024
The Face of Another [1964] – ★★★★★
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be” (Kurt Vonnegut).
After enjoying The Woman in the Dunes [1962] over the summer, I have now read The Face of Another by the same author (translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders). In this story, which is narrated through three notebooks (diaries), we are told of a scientist who gets facially disfigured while conducting an experiment in a laboratory, and struggles from then on to fit into the society with his disfigured face. He manages to make a mask that is indistinguishable from a real face, but soon finds out that his problems have only just began as his personality also starts to change. There is something from Frankenstein [1823] in this novel, something from Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde [1886], something from The Invisible Man [1897], something from Steppenwolf [1927], and something from Franz Kafka and Ernesto Sabato as well, resulting in this novel being a psychologically and philosophically delicious journey into the dark recesses of one increasingly damaged mind.
There are a number of ways to write a review of this book because there are a number of interpretations one can focus on. I will emphasize in this review the link between the face and identity, and the resulting psychology and existential crisis. In The Face of Another, the main character (the scientist) learns fast after his lab accident that one’s presentable face is essential for societal acceptance. His face is so horribly disfigured that he has to bandage it and then go out into the world, with the result being that people stare at him and feel embarrassed. The scientist also realises that one’s face provides a special key to one’s identity. By losing his face, the narrator feels like he lost something very important – not only the means to make normal communication with the outside world possible, but also some path through which he can see himself, who he really is and connect with himself (perhaps, with his mental image of himself).
We become aware of the ensuing existential crisis of the narrator through three notebooks which he left behind. In them, he hints at some terrible act that he has committed, but we as yet know nothing about, and at his dissatisfaction with the societal response to his disfigurement. “Shut off by a wall of affability, I was always completely alone” [1964: 10] and “yet it was not I who should feel ashamed. If there was anyone who should suffer, was it not rather the world that had buried me alive, that made no attempt to recognise a man’s personality without the passport of the face?” [1964: 98], writes our narrator in one of his notebooks.
The narrator of the notebooks (the scientist) then makes a decision to make a mask which is indistinguishable from a real face to begin a new life as an acceptable member of society. Since the narrator is a scientist, he approaches every problem with an analytical mind. He consults an expert in cosmetic surgery, as well as an expert in palaeontology, finding out that facial movements and wrinkles would be the hardest to replicate in any artificial face. When our narrator finishes his mask, that would make him finally a normal human being in the eyes of many, and then tries it on, he is not sure if its effects are as desirable anymore. At this point, The Face of Another plays interestingly with an ancient notion that states that a man is capable of anything provided that he wears a mask. The idea here is that when a person veils his identity, he is capable of thoughts and actions his normal self would not even dream of. In this sense, Kobo Abe explores in The Face of Another a situation whereby a mask provides one with special liberation and empowerment, changing the wearer’s personality, making him do strange things. After all, the majority of public actions are only being restrained or propelled by societal expectations – they should reflect those expectations and we act accordingly.
The great aspect of the novel is that we do not quite know what to expect from the narrator or where his new transformation would take him. At the start, we do not even know the nature of an incident that led to his disfigurement because the scientist in his journal chooses to focus on the room that he started to rent and on his laboratory work, rather than on what we really want to know – what horrible thing did the narrator apparently commit? This focus on insignificant things makes for an intriguing read since we have no choice but to fill the gaps in knowledge with our own horrifying conclusions and guesswork. Also, like in The Woman in the Dunes, there is a big contrast in The Face of Another between the relative calm of the beginning and the chaotic, almost insane, realisations coming to us readers seemingly from nowhere in the novel’s second part. Near the end of The Face of Another, one very interesting psychological situation occurs involving the wife of the scientist, who has also struggled throughout the story to come to terms with her husband’s transformation. Despite the novel’s slightly rambling and repetitive nature, its conclusion feels strangely right and elegant.
🎭 The Face of Another would be a delightful book for those who like introspective books which focus on the mind of a main character thrown into an extraordinary situation. The book is a psychologically intense character study of a man grappling with the realities of his facial disfigurement (stigma and alienation), as well as with the realities of his newly found, even if artificially-constructed, identity.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be” (Kurt Vonnegut).
After enjoying The Woman in the Dunes [1962] over the summer, I have now read The Face of Another by the same author (translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders). In this story, which is narrated through three notebooks (diaries), we are told of a scientist who gets facially disfigured while conducting an experiment in a laboratory, and struggles from then on to fit into the society with his disfigured face. He manages to make a mask that is indistinguishable from a real face, but soon finds out that his problems have only just began as his personality also starts to change. There is something from Frankenstein [1823] in this novel, something from Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde [1886], something from The Invisible Man [1897], something from Steppenwolf [1927], and something from Franz Kafka and Ernesto Sabato as well, resulting in this novel being a psychologically and philosophically delicious journey into the dark recesses of one increasingly damaged mind.
There are a number of ways to write a review of this book because there are a number of interpretations one can focus on. I will emphasize in this review the link between the face and identity, and the resulting psychology and existential crisis. In The Face of Another, the main character (the scientist) learns fast after his lab accident that one’s presentable face is essential for societal acceptance. His face is so horribly disfigured that he has to bandage it and then go out into the world, with the result being that people stare at him and feel embarrassed. The scientist also realises that one’s face provides a special key to one’s identity. By losing his face, the narrator feels like he lost something very important – not only the means to make normal communication with the outside world possible, but also some path through which he can see himself, who he really is and connect with himself (perhaps, with his mental image of himself).
We become aware of the ensuing existential crisis of the narrator through three notebooks which he left behind. In them, he hints at some terrible act that he has committed, but we as yet know nothing about, and at his dissatisfaction with the societal response to his disfigurement. “Shut off by a wall of affability, I was always completely alone” [1964: 10] and “yet it was not I who should feel ashamed. If there was anyone who should suffer, was it not rather the world that had buried me alive, that made no attempt to recognise a man’s personality without the passport of the face?” [1964: 98], writes our narrator in one of his notebooks.
The narrator of the notebooks (the scientist) then makes a decision to make a mask which is indistinguishable from a real face to begin a new life as an acceptable member of society. Since the narrator is a scientist, he approaches every problem with an analytical mind. He consults an expert in cosmetic surgery, as well as an expert in palaeontology, finding out that facial movements and wrinkles would be the hardest to replicate in any artificial face. When our narrator finishes his mask, that would make him finally a normal human being in the eyes of many, and then tries it on, he is not sure if its effects are as desirable anymore. At this point, The Face of Another plays interestingly with an ancient notion that states that a man is capable of anything provided that he wears a mask. The idea here is that when a person veils his identity, he is capable of thoughts and actions his normal self would not even dream of. In this sense, Kobo Abe explores in The Face of Another a situation whereby a mask provides one with special liberation and empowerment, changing the wearer’s personality, making him do strange things. After all, the majority of public actions are only being restrained or propelled by societal expectations – they should reflect those expectations and we act accordingly.
The great aspect of the novel is that we do not quite know what to expect from the narrator or where his new transformation would take him. At the start, we do not even know the nature of an incident that led to his disfigurement because the scientist in his journal chooses to focus on the room that he started to rent and on his laboratory work, rather than on what we really want to know – what horrible thing did the narrator apparently commit? This focus on insignificant things makes for an intriguing read since we have no choice but to fill the gaps in knowledge with our own horrifying conclusions and guesswork. Also, like in The Woman in the Dunes, there is a big contrast in The Face of Another between the relative calm of the beginning and the chaotic, almost insane, realisations coming to us readers seemingly from nowhere in the novel’s second part. Near the end of The Face of Another, one very interesting psychological situation occurs involving the wife of the scientist, who has also struggled throughout the story to come to terms with her husband’s transformation. Despite the novel’s slightly rambling and repetitive nature, its conclusion feels strangely right and elegant.
🎭 The Face of Another would be a delightful book for those who like introspective books which focus on the mind of a main character thrown into an extraordinary situation. The book is a psychologically intense character study of a man grappling with the realities of his facial disfigurement (stigma and alienation), as well as with the realities of his newly found, even if artificially-constructed, identity.
February 27, 2024
16 senelik birikimimle bu adam underrated'dır diyorum ben.
Maskeler bu kitaptan sonra benim için artık sadece bir maske değil. Başkasının Yüzü'nü çok akıcı bulmamakla beraber kitabın harika bir kurgu ve yazım diliyle kaleme alındığını düşünüyorum. Ayrıca çevirisini de çok beğendim.
Maskeler bu kitaptan sonra benim için artık sadece bir maske değil. Başkasının Yüzü'nü çok akıcı bulmamakla beraber kitabın harika bir kurgu ve yazım diliyle kaleme alındığını düşünüyorum. Ayrıca çevirisini de çok beğendim.
September 3, 2024
A scientist damages his face in a chemical accident and, feeling spurned by his wife, retreats into solitude to wrangle with his newfound crisis of identity. How much does a face define who we are, both to ourselves and to others we love or do not even know. The man creates a masterful mask to cover his scars, thus allowing him to circulate in public without stigma. But what does this new face give him the freedom to do, what role will he play while hidden behind this mask. At times suffocating, the narrative exists almost solely within the scientist's mind, as he puzzles over questions springing from his decision to adopt what he perceives to be a new persona, but what may actually only be another role he's playing in the larger masked ball of society. Though the novel was first published in 1966, some of the questions raised within it resonate even more in today's internet-saturated culture, which fosters endless opportunities for people to don virtual masks, slipping in and out of any of a number of roles.
March 25, 2024
Οι αναγνωστικοί μου ρυθμοί καθώς κ η διάθεση για διάβασμα έχουν πέσει στα Τάρταρα. Στέλνω αγωνιστικούς χαιρετισμούς σε όσους έχουν αυχενικό. Η ζάλη - αστάθεια πλέον δεν αντέχεται.
Στα δικά μας τώρα.. ένα βιβλίο που όταν βγήκε έτρεξα να το αγοράσω αφού το «η γυναίκα της άμμου» με είχε φτάσει στα όρια της έκστασης. Έτσι ανυπομονούσα για την ανάγνωση αυτού του βιβλίου.
Σε μια συνανάγνωση με την αγαπημένη φίλη μου Ρούλα που δυστυχώς δεν μπόρεσα να ανταποκριθώ όπως θα ήθελα. Φίλη μου, δεσμεύομαι για το επόμενο.
Είναι λοιπόν, ένα ανάγνωσμα που σε κάθε κεφάλαιο αναλύει κατάλοιπα και αντιλήψεις της κοινωνίας.
Ο ήρωας έχοντας ένα εργαστηριακό ατύχημα που του καταστρέφει το πρόσωπο δημιουργώντας του ουλές προσπαθεί να δεχτεί τη νέα του εμφάνιση. Οι πληγές δεν είναι μόνο εξωτερικές. Θα προκαλέσουν ανεπανόρθωτη ζημιά στο χαρακτήρα του ήρωα και στην ψυχική του υγεία.
Αρχικά με επιδέσμους κρύβει την όψη του. Η εικόνα αυτή τον κάνει απωθητικό. Έτσι επιλέγει να φτιάξει μια μάσκα. Αυτή η μάσκα θα αλλάξει τον τρόπο που σκέφτεται κ θα του δώσει μια νέα ταυτότητα. Μια ταυτότητα νοσηρή με άσχημες σκέψεις για το κοινωνικό του περιβάλλον κ μη.
Πιστεύει πως με αυτόν τον τρόπο θα ξεγελάσει τους υπόλοιπους ανθρώπους αφού θα καλύπτεται το αλλοιωμένο του πρόσωπο. Μήπως όμως θα ξεγελάσει τον ίδιο του τον εαυτό; Μήπως τελικά αυτό επεδίωκε; Ίσως ενδόμυχα να ήθελε να δημιουργήσει ή να προβάλει μία άλλη φύση του εαυτού του; Αυτό αφήνεται στην κρίση του αναγνώστη.
Στα δικά μας τώρα.. ένα βιβλίο που όταν βγήκε έτρεξα να το αγοράσω αφού το «η γυναίκα της άμμου» με είχε φτάσει στα όρια της έκστασης. Έτσι ανυπομονούσα για την ανάγνωση αυτού του βιβλίου.
Σε μια συνανάγνωση με την αγαπημένη φίλη μου Ρούλα που δυστυχώς δεν μπόρεσα να ανταποκριθώ όπως θα ήθελα. Φίλη μου, δεσμεύομαι για το επόμενο.
Είναι λοιπόν, ένα ανάγνωσμα που σε κάθε κεφάλαιο αναλύει κατάλοιπα και αντιλήψεις της κοινωνίας.
Ο ήρωας έχοντας ένα εργαστηριακό ατύχημα που του καταστρέφει το πρόσωπο δημιουργώντας του ουλές προσπαθεί να δεχτεί τη νέα του εμφάνιση. Οι πληγές δεν είναι μόνο εξωτερικές. Θα προκαλέσουν ανεπανόρθωτη ζημιά στο χαρακτήρα του ήρωα και στην ψυχική του υγεία.
Αρχικά με επιδέσμους κρύβει την όψη του. Η εικόνα αυτή τον κάνει απωθητικό. Έτσι επιλέγει να φτιάξει μια μάσκα. Αυτή η μάσκα θα αλλάξει τον τρόπο που σκέφτεται κ θα του δώσει μια νέα ταυτότητα. Μια ταυτότητα νοσηρή με άσχημες σκέψεις για το κοινωνικό του περιβάλλον κ μη.
Πιστεύει πως με αυτόν τον τρόπο θα ξεγελάσει τους υπόλοιπους ανθρώπους αφού θα καλύπτεται το αλλοιωμένο του πρόσωπο. Μήπως όμως θα ξεγελάσει τον ίδιο του τον εαυτό; Μήπως τελικά αυτό επεδίωκε; Ίσως ενδόμυχα να ήθελε να δημιουργήσει ή να προβάλει μία άλλη φύση του εαυτού του; Αυτό αφήνεται στην κρίση του αναγνώστη.
February 14, 2019
Գրքով կարդալու գիրք էր, հեչ աուդիոբուքի բան չէր։ Շատ փլիլսոփայական ու հոգեբանական վերլուծական գիրք էր։ Մի տեսակ գրողի ինքնությունը չհասկացա։ Դաստաևսկի կար, Կաֆկա կար, Կամյու կար, մի քիչ էլ Միսիմա։ Միսիմայից մենակ գրելաոճն էր, բայց ոչ ճապոնականությունը։ Ճապոնական ոչինչ չկար։ Մի երկու բան էլ արժի կարդալ իրենից իսկական դեմքը տեսնելու համար։ Մի քանի տակ դիմակով էր գրքում։
Մի խոսքով լավ գիրք էր։
Մի խոսքով լավ գիրք էր։
Read
July 2, 2020Did a review of this book here: https://youtu.be/B9hpki9JWWE
March 26, 2024
"έλα λοιπόν ,ας φερθούμε γενναία κι ας σβήσουμε το φως . Μόλις σβήσουν τα φώτα ,αυτό θα είναι και το τέλος του μπαλ μασκε. Μέσα στο σκοτάδι ,χωρίς ούτε κανονικό πρόσωπο ούτε μάσκα ,θα ήθελα να επιδιώξουμε ,μια ακόμη φορά ,μια αμοιβαία επιβεβαίωση.θα θελα να πιστέψω σε ετούτη τη νέα μελωδία που ακούγεται μέσα από αυτό το σκοτάδι ."
Ένας επιστήμονας,μετά από ατύχημα που είχε στο εργαστήριο με υγρό οξυγόνο ,βλέπει το πρόσωπο του να παραμορφώνεται.το μόνο που έχει μείνει απείραχτο ,είναι τα μάτια και τα χείλη του .κατά τη γνώμη μου καθόλου τυχαία επιλογή του συγγραφέα .τα μάτια βλέπουν όπως πριν ,γι'αυτό ο ήρωας μας αρνείται να αποδεχθεί ως κριτήριο για την κριτική προς κάποιον το πρόσωπο .γι'αυτό και αρχικά δε δείχνει να θέλει να αλλάξει κάτι στον εαυτό του . Όμως σύντομα αναγκάζεται να αλλάξει την οπτική του όταν βλέπει το πώς τον απομονώνει και τον κρίνει ο περίγυρος του ,ο οποίος υιοθετεί την άποψη πως το πρόσωπο είναι ένας δρόμος που συνδέει τους ανθρώπους μεταξύ τους .τότε ο ίδιος που έχασε το πρόσωπο του ,θα πρέπει να μείνει φυλακισμένος σε ένα κελί χωρίς έξοδο ?
Το breaking point του έρχεται όταν ακόμη και η γυναίκα του αρχίζει να τον αποφεύγει ,οπότε αναγκαστικά βρίσκει τη λύση μιας μάσκας η οποία έχει αρχικό σκοπό να τον φέρει κοντά σε ο,τι και οποιους απομακρύνθηκαν αλλά τελικά του ανοίγει μια νέα οπτική πραγμάτων όταν βλέπει πόσα μπορεί να κάνει κρυμμένος πίσω της ...
Ο Kobo abe ασχολήθηκε πολύ με το έργο του Ντοστογιέφσκι,του Νίτσε και του Κάφκα ,κάτι που γίνεται ιδιαίτερα σαφές διαβάζοντας το βιβλίο αυτό που είναι επηρεασμένο από τα θέματα του υπαρξισμού ,της ταυτότητας ,της κρίσης αξιών κλπ .
Είναι ένα βιβλίο που θέλει προσοχή ,σκέψη και αντιστοιχα έχει πολλά να δώσει πίσω σε νοήματα και αναγνωστική απόλαυση .μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ αλλά θα προτιμούσα να ήταν λίγο μικρότερο μιας και από ένα σημείο και μετά ένιωσα ότι είχε δώσει όσα πολλά μπορούσε να δώσει .
"Με μια ευτυχισμένη ψυχική κατάσταση σκέφτηκα ακόμη και τούτο ,ότι η αγάπη βγάζει από τον καθένα μας τη μάσκα του και ότι ,για να γίνει αυτό ,και για χάρη του ανθρώπου που αγαπάμε ,πρέπει να προσπαθήσουμε να βάλουμε μια μάσκα . Επειδή ,αν δεν υπάρχει μάσκα, δεν θα υπάρξει και η χαρά του βγαλσιματος της ."
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 αστέρια
Ένας επιστήμονας,μετά από ατύχημα που είχε στο εργαστήριο με υγρό οξυγόνο ,βλέπει το πρόσωπο του να παραμορφώνεται.το μόνο που έχει μείνει απείραχτο ,είναι τα μάτια και τα χείλη του .κατά τη γνώμη μου καθόλου τυχαία επιλογή του συγγραφέα .τα μάτια βλέπουν όπως πριν ,γι'αυτό ο ήρωας μας αρνείται να αποδεχθεί ως κριτήριο για την κριτική προς κάποιον το πρόσωπο .γι'αυτό και αρχικά δε δείχνει να θέλει να αλλάξει κάτι στον εαυτό του . Όμως σύντομα αναγκάζεται να αλλάξει την οπτική του όταν βλέπει το πώς τον απομονώνει και τον κρίνει ο περίγυρος του ,ο οποίος υιοθετεί την άποψη πως το πρόσωπο είναι ένας δρόμος που συνδέει τους ανθρώπους μεταξύ τους .τότε ο ίδιος που έχασε το πρόσωπο του ,θα πρέπει να μείνει φυλακισμένος σε ένα κελί χωρίς έξοδο ?
Το breaking point του έρχεται όταν ακόμη και η γυναίκα του αρχίζει να τον αποφεύγει ,οπότε αναγκαστικά βρίσκει τη λύση μιας μάσκας η οποία έχει αρχικό σκοπό να τον φέρει κοντά σε ο,τι και οποιους απομακρύνθηκαν αλλά τελικά του ανοίγει μια νέα οπτική πραγμάτων όταν βλέπει πόσα μπορεί να κάνει κρυμμένος πίσω της ...
Ο Kobo abe ασχολήθηκε πολύ με το έργο του Ντοστογιέφσκι,του Νίτσε και του Κάφκα ,κάτι που γίνεται ιδιαίτερα σαφές διαβάζοντας το βιβλίο αυτό που είναι επηρεασμένο από τα θέματα του υπαρξισμού ,της ταυτότητας ,της κρίσης αξιών κλπ .
Είναι ένα βιβλίο που θέλει προσοχή ,σκέψη και αντιστοιχα έχει πολλά να δώσει πίσω σε νοήματα και αναγνωστική απόλαυση .μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ αλλά θα προτιμούσα να ήταν λίγο μικρότερο μιας και από ένα σημείο και μετά ένιωσα ότι είχε δώσει όσα πολλά μπορούσε να δώσει .
"Με μια ευτυχισμένη ψυχική κατάσταση σκέφτηκα ακόμη και τούτο ,ότι η αγάπη βγάζει από τον καθένα μας τη μάσκα του και ότι ,για να γίνει αυτό ,και για χάρη του ανθρώπου που αγαπάμε ,πρέπει να προσπαθήσουμε να βάλουμε μια μάσκα . Επειδή ,αν δεν υπάρχει μάσκα, δεν θα υπάρξει και η χαρά του βγαλσιματος της ."
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 αστέρια
February 2, 2008
Face of Another is a kind of post-Kafka take on the experiment gone wrong stories of Wells and Stevenson. Abe sometimes sinks his narrative drive by fully realizing the artifice through which he is revealing his story, here it is the notebooks of the scientist who creates the titular object, written to his wife. This mirrors the structures of Secret Rendezvous and Box Man and in the final post-script of the wife echoes the finale of Tanizaki’s The Key. The notebooks contain anecdotal philosophizing and scientific procedures, alongside manic confessions and visceral accounts of his dissociative panic, and accounts of folk tales and movies that reflect the book’s themes. Things start to pick in the second half as the narrator’s eccentric behavior increases, his identity becomes frayed, and he literally begins haunting his own life. Abe also continues his willingness to take a central metaphor and discuss from as many possible angles and permutations with a mix of profound, witty, silly, and nightmarish discussions of the implications of faces and mask; especially pertaining to the lack of the former and the destruction of identify possible with the later. Another creepy parade of thought provoking images by a master of the surreal and macabre.
August 29, 2019
Mi-a plăcut premisa, dar voiam să regăsesc atmosfera și stilul din Femeia nisipurilor; nu a fost cazul. Cu toate acestea, o lectură plăcută și în unele momente destul de înfricoșătoare.
March 20, 2022
Okurun Kobo Abe’nin şahane zekası ile imtihanı. Neden bilmiyorum şuncağız kitap halbuki dikkatimi bir türlü toparlayamadım, odaklanma problemim yüzünden ne zaman başka zaman devam ederim diye bıraksam verdiğim ara uzadıkça uzadı. Şaka değil tam 4 ay geçmiş üzerinden.
Olay artık kan davasına döndüğü için bitirdim oysa yarım bıraksam bir şey kaybetmeyecekmişim. Şu ana kadar en sevmediğim kitabı oldu. Burnumda tüttü Kutu Adam falan. Neyse alırım bi’ dal geçmiş olsununuzu.
Şeref kurtarıldı. ✔️
Olay artık kan davasına döndüğü için bitirdim oysa yarım bıraksam bir şey kaybetmeyecekmişim. Şu ana kadar en sevmediğim kitabı oldu. Burnumda tüttü Kutu Adam falan. Neyse alırım bi’ dal geçmiş olsununuzu.
Şeref kurtarıldı. ✔️
August 4, 2024
شاید حتی لحظه ای هم که شده نگاهی گذرا بر آزادی انداخته بوده باشم، آزادی ای که گفتی هنگام اتکا بر روابط انسانیِ شکل گرفته از درگاه چهره غیر قابل تصور می نماید. شاید ناگهان به این حقیقت تلخ رسیده بودم که هرکس با نقاب گوشتی روزنه ی وحوش را میبندد، شبکه ی زخم هایش را در درون مخفی می کند. شاید با از دست دادن چهره ام می توانستم با دنیای دیگری از حقایق مربوط شوم، دنیایی که در آن تصویری بر روزنه ها و پنجره های ارتباطی نقاشی نشده بود.
#چهره_دیگری
#کوبو_آبه
#ترجمه #بهرام_محتشمی 📝 راوی داستان پزشکی است که هنگام انجام آزمایش، اکسیژن منفجر شده و او بی احتیاطی کرده و صورتش دچار زخم شده است.مخاطب او در داستان همسرش می باشد.در ابتدای داستان میخوانیم که چگونه این زخم های صورتش و زشتی او در زندگی اش تاثیر میگذارد و او با مراجعه به جراح میخواهد که صورتش را ترمیم کند.این مسئله تمام ذهن او را مشغول میکند و با دکتر به بحث می نشیند که آیا ظاهر مهم تر است یا باطن فرد؟ آیا روح انسان تماما در کالبد او شکل میگیرد؟!در زمان جنگ ارزشمندترین چیز در نظر مجروحان چیست؟!آیا می توان گفت چهره در انتخاب های ما اهمیتی ندارد؟! او درگیر ارتباط و تاثیر بین چهره و نقابش با زندگی میشود...
📝من دو کتاب از کوبو آبه خوندم، یکی این کتاب و دیگری "زن در ریگ روان" نوشته هایش بیان روانی_اجتماعی و اگزیستانسیالیستی دارد و هر دو کتابش رو دوست داشتم.البته بخاطر سبک نوشتنش ممکنه مورد پسند همه نباشه
#چهره_دیگری
#کوبو_آبه
#ترجمه #بهرام_محتشمی 📝 راوی داستان پزشکی است که هنگام انجام آزمایش، اکسیژن منفجر شده و او بی احتیاطی کرده و صورتش دچار زخم شده است.مخاطب او در داستان همسرش می باشد.در ابتدای داستان میخوانیم که چگونه این زخم های صورتش و زشتی او در زندگی اش تاثیر میگذارد و او با مراجعه به جراح میخواهد که صورتش را ترمیم کند.این مسئله تمام ذهن او را مشغول میکند و با دکتر به بحث می نشیند که آیا ظاهر مهم تر است یا باطن فرد؟ آیا روح انسان تماما در کالبد او شکل میگیرد؟!در زمان جنگ ارزشمندترین چیز در نظر مجروحان چیست؟!آیا می توان گفت چهره در انتخاب های ما اهمیتی ندارد؟! او درگیر ارتباط و تاثیر بین چهره و نقابش با زندگی میشود...
📝من دو کتاب از کوبو آبه خوندم، یکی این کتاب و دیگری "زن در ریگ روان" نوشته هایش بیان روانی_اجتماعی و اگزیستانسیالیستی دارد و هر دو کتابش رو دوست داشتم.البته بخاطر سبک نوشتنش ممکنه مورد پسند همه نباشه
January 15, 2022
Kobo Abe's book The Face of Another takes the form of the notebooks of a mad scientist. The scientist (who serves as the story's narrator) was disfigured by a lab accident, but the scars from that incident were not merely physical: Being disfigured has furthermore driven him insane. From his deranged mind springs a plan to invent a mask for himself indistinguishable in appearance from real flesh, and to use this new face to take his vengeance on an uncaring world. Or maybe it's not vengeance, but regaining human connection that is his goal. Or perhaps his addled mind has no concrete objective for his obsessive project. In any event, I didn't find his quest to make and use his mask particularly entertaining to read.
The narrator's insanity manifests in numerous ways, as early on in his notebooks the narrator sometimes goes on strange tangents that don't logically follow what has come before. He has violent fantasies and urges that he seems to only barely be able to control. He also speaks ad nauseam about facial structure in a way akin to the ranting of the mentally ill that you all too frequently hear on the subway. When the mask is finally complete, an event which only occurs nearly halfway through the book, the narrator does not see it as merely a tool he can wield, but rather as a separate entity that he's “given birth to” with its own personality and desires, even if we know intellectually that it’s no more than a piece of plastic.
Here’s the thing; I think that Kobo Abe did a good job in replicating the slightly unhinged ravings of a madman, but such ravings are not fun to read. There is an extended discussion of facial archetypes that slowed my progress through the book down to a crawl, and in general the book took much longer to get through than books of this length usually do. Once the mask is finished the story picks up a bit, but even then the pace is slowed by the narrator’s constant introspection and doubt about his actions.
To be clear, introspection from a character in the narrator’s position could have been great, as his situation is fertile ground for a meditation on identity and our tendency to not look beneath the surface in many of our day to day interactions, but the narrator being insane undercuts the book’s ability to provide interesting insights. The narrator does not see his mask as merely an object, after all, but as its own being with its own desires, which he claims to not always be able to understand. As a reader I interpreted this disassociation as a way for the narrator to avoid taking responsibility for the hidden fantasies that “the mask” wants to carry out, but whatever the cause it means that the narrator does not reflect on them, which means that some of the most interesting parts of the book go unanalyzed while other parts get analyzed a bit too much.
I should note that all of this is just my interpretation, as The Face of Another never actually comes out and says that its narrator is insane. This is an almost sixty year old Japanese novel that I’m reading in translation, so perhaps the narrator’s tangents aren’t supposed to strike me as non-sequiturs, and heck maybe Kobo Abe really did buy into the face theory that the story’s narrator won’t shut up about. But I very much doubt it. The narrator seeing the mask as some sort of separate consciousness is pretty strong proof that he's no longer able to logically interpret the world. As additional evidence I’d point to the ending, which, since I believed that the narrator was out of touch with reality, I saw as a likely scenario even before the reveal. The narrator’s edits to the story are sometimes even less decipherable than the regular text, suggesting to me that the narrator’s mental health may be continuing to decline.
I’m not sure if I should categorize this book as a work of horror, since, despite the story featuring the undeniably creepy scenario of a man with a false face walking around the city, fantasizing about violence and rape, none of it struck me as written with the intention to frighten. Even when the narrative paints a doomsday scenario of the world falling apart if fake faces became widely available, Abe presents this in an analytic tone with no attempt to engender any fear. There is certainly a whiff of existential terror that comes from considering the narrator’s position, and imagining that we are each a single tragic accident away from having most of our ties to the rest of society severed, but I don’t think that’s enough to place the book in the horror genre.
The Face of Another presents an interesting situation, but as I interpret it Kobo Abe did too good a job counterfeiting the writing of an insane person, which resulted in a work that wasn’t very fun to read. It was slow to get through, bogged down in its early pages with the technical discussion of designing the mask and in its later pages with the narrator’s internal struggle. For a better exploration of some of these same themes by Kobo Abe, check out The Box Man, which also deals with mental instability and the tenuous connection between the individual and society. I give this one a 3/5.
P.S. The Vintage International edition translated by E. Dale Saunders is rife with typos, so try to pick up a different edition if you choose to read this one.
The narrator's insanity manifests in numerous ways, as early on in his notebooks the narrator sometimes goes on strange tangents that don't logically follow what has come before. He has violent fantasies and urges that he seems to only barely be able to control. He also speaks ad nauseam about facial structure in a way akin to the ranting of the mentally ill that you all too frequently hear on the subway. When the mask is finally complete, an event which only occurs nearly halfway through the book, the narrator does not see it as merely a tool he can wield, but rather as a separate entity that he's “given birth to” with its own personality and desires, even if we know intellectually that it’s no more than a piece of plastic.
Here’s the thing; I think that Kobo Abe did a good job in replicating the slightly unhinged ravings of a madman, but such ravings are not fun to read. There is an extended discussion of facial archetypes that slowed my progress through the book down to a crawl, and in general the book took much longer to get through than books of this length usually do. Once the mask is finished the story picks up a bit, but even then the pace is slowed by the narrator’s constant introspection and doubt about his actions.
To be clear, introspection from a character in the narrator’s position could have been great, as his situation is fertile ground for a meditation on identity and our tendency to not look beneath the surface in many of our day to day interactions, but the narrator being insane undercuts the book’s ability to provide interesting insights. The narrator does not see his mask as merely an object, after all, but as its own being with its own desires, which he claims to not always be able to understand. As a reader I interpreted this disassociation as a way for the narrator to avoid taking responsibility for the hidden fantasies that “the mask” wants to carry out, but whatever the cause it means that the narrator does not reflect on them, which means that some of the most interesting parts of the book go unanalyzed while other parts get analyzed a bit too much.
I should note that all of this is just my interpretation, as The Face of Another never actually comes out and says that its narrator is insane. This is an almost sixty year old Japanese novel that I’m reading in translation, so perhaps the narrator’s tangents aren’t supposed to strike me as non-sequiturs, and heck maybe Kobo Abe really did buy into the face theory that the story’s narrator won’t shut up about. But I very much doubt it. The narrator seeing the mask as some sort of separate consciousness is pretty strong proof that he's no longer able to logically interpret the world. As additional evidence I’d point to the ending, which, since I believed that the narrator was out of touch with reality, I saw as a likely scenario even before the reveal. The narrator’s edits to the story are sometimes even less decipherable than the regular text, suggesting to me that the narrator’s mental health may be continuing to decline.
I’m not sure if I should categorize this book as a work of horror, since, despite the story featuring the undeniably creepy scenario of a man with a false face walking around the city, fantasizing about violence and rape, none of it struck me as written with the intention to frighten. Even when the narrative paints a doomsday scenario of the world falling apart if fake faces became widely available, Abe presents this in an analytic tone with no attempt to engender any fear. There is certainly a whiff of existential terror that comes from considering the narrator’s position, and imagining that we are each a single tragic accident away from having most of our ties to the rest of society severed, but I don’t think that’s enough to place the book in the horror genre.
The Face of Another presents an interesting situation, but as I interpret it Kobo Abe did too good a job counterfeiting the writing of an insane person, which resulted in a work that wasn’t very fun to read. It was slow to get through, bogged down in its early pages with the technical discussion of designing the mask and in its later pages with the narrator’s internal struggle. For a better exploration of some of these same themes by Kobo Abe, check out The Box Man, which also deals with mental instability and the tenuous connection between the individual and society. I give this one a 3/5.
P.S. The Vintage International edition translated by E. Dale Saunders is rife with typos, so try to pick up a different edition if you choose to read this one.
January 2, 2014
This is by far my favorite of Abe’s novels. Mainly due to the odd tension he is able to sustain through long, often philosophically concerned monologues of a man who, after burning his face, decides to fashion and wear a mask in an effort to locate the social effect of the self and how that self can be split. It kept reminding me of a more universally centered American Psycho, 30 years before Ellis’s, with even more layering of psychological effect and more eerie calm as the narrator continues revealing himself, burying himself, and creating a new self over and over again, unto a whole. This novel captures so well the sense of being a person imprisoned both in the self and in the thousands of other selves surrounding any given person. It explores the weird interlocking rooms in which from one to the next you could become anybody depending on who is counting and what you carried in. I keep thinking I want to nail this book to the wall in my closet.
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November 2, 2019Fakat bundan sonrası asla yazılmayacak. Yazma eylemi, sanırım, hiçbir şey gerçekleşmediğinde gerekli sadece.
Kobo Abe'nin yazdıkları, karakterleri, çıkmazları, anlatısı; hepsi yazıya-insana-tarihe olan böyle bir güvensizlik ve şüpheciliğin ürünüler. Öyle bir evren ki, aynada yansıyan suretler, aslolana, ''hakikat''e ihanet etmekte, meydan okumakta hiç gecikmezler. Böylesi bir aynalar simulakrında yaşayan, gerçeğe itimadını kaybeden Kobo Abe'nin karakterleri önce kendine mi yabancılaşır yoksa topluma mı bunu bile bilemezler. Hiçbir referans sistemi, asla, güvenilir değildir. Herbir cevap, sadece yeni sorularaa gebedir.
Kobo Abe Seyahat, karadeliğin merkezine, tekinsiz bir yolculuk. Kemerlerinizi bağlamaya yeltenmeyin; buralarda kemerlere asla güven olmaz!
Kobo Abe'nin yazdıkları, karakterleri, çıkmazları, anlatısı; hepsi yazıya-insana-tarihe olan böyle bir güvensizlik ve şüpheciliğin ürünüler. Öyle bir evren ki, aynada yansıyan suretler, aslolana, ''hakikat''e ihanet etmekte, meydan okumakta hiç gecikmezler. Böylesi bir aynalar simulakrında yaşayan, gerçeğe itimadını kaybeden Kobo Abe'nin karakterleri önce kendine mi yabancılaşır yoksa topluma mı bunu bile bilemezler. Hiçbir referans sistemi, asla, güvenilir değildir. Herbir cevap, sadece yeni sorularaa gebedir.
Kobo Abe Seyahat, karadeliğin merkezine, tekinsiz bir yolculuk. Kemerlerinizi bağlamaya yeltenmeyin; buralarda kemerlere asla güven olmaz!
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December 20, 2019All I could think was what if Jim Carrey's The Mask turned out like a Kobo Abe novel.
I mean, it is Kobo Abe, so it can't be bad, and I loved the premise, but it didn't haunt me the way that Woman in the Dunes or The Box Man or The Ark Sakura did. There's precise, clinical detail, epistemological rumination, all that good shit, but it doesn't quite come together until the end, which is absolutely rapturous. Enough so that my initial misgivings were largely forgiven.
I mean, it is Kobo Abe, so it can't be bad, and I loved the premise, but it didn't haunt me the way that Woman in the Dunes or The Box Man or The Ark Sakura did. There's precise, clinical detail, epistemological rumination, all that good shit, but it doesn't quite come together until the end, which is absolutely rapturous. Enough so that my initial misgivings were largely forgiven.
October 16, 2015
But then, it just occurred to me … it’s probably a good thing to go to the movies occasionally. The whole audience puts on the actor’s face. No one needs his own. A movie’s a place where you pay your money to exchange faces for a while
September 21, 2016
If we were to loose the most referential aspect of who we are (our face) how would it effect our relationship with others? This chilling narrative answers that question.
December 4, 2015
Αρκετά διαφορετικό από τη Γυναίκα της Άμμου, με λιγότερο εντυπωσιακή γραφή. Τα θέματα όμως με τα οποία καταπιάνεται ο Άμπε ( η ταυτότητα με τους μύθους και τις διαστροφές της, η μοναξιά, η σχέση του ανθρώπου με τον Άλλο σε όλα τα επίπεδα, ο έρωτας, τα σεξουαλικά ταμπού, η ψυχοσύνθεση του σύγχρονου ανθρώπου στο αστικό περιβάλλον, και πολλά ακόμα) και κυρίως η ιδιαίτερη και εμβριθής, φιλοσοφικής πολλές φορές χροιάς, ματιά του, καταφέρνουν να δημιουργήσουν μια εφιαλτική και ανατριχιαστική μοντέρνα τραγωδία.
January 12, 2020
Kitabı okurken sürekli kaşıkla tünel kazıyormuşum gibi bir hisse kapıldım. Ama son sayfayı da okuyup kapağını kapattığımda iyi ki sonuna kadar okudum dedim.
June 3, 2019
Great book very different (but Great film!) from the 1966 film adaptation by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Screenplay by Kōbō Abe)
March 3, 2017
Actually, what I ask of you is quite something else again. I want some sign of a completely meaningful human relationship—the lines are indistinct—call it heart or soul.
*
And even now, when I think of the distance between us, the measure of it is the remoteness of your expression and nothing else.
*
Under any circumstances, I simply did not want to lose you. To lose you would be symbolic of losing the world.
*
Our silence was not the vacuum that comes from having said all there is to say. Whatever conversation we had fell naturally to pieces and crumbled in bitter silence.
*
One by one I endeavored to eject colors and forms from my memory as if spitting out sand from my mouth, but something always remained—you. […] the appearance of things around me was crystal-clear in my memory. The further away I got, the more clearly,the more distinctly your face floated before me, and I was at a loss to know what to do.
*
If I had suspected things would be like this, how much better to have pulled out at once. [...] Actually my confidence was not up to my explanation; my betrayed love had been drawn into a corner and changed to hate, my desire to reestablish the roadway had been frustrated and turned into a desire for revenge.
*
Fear strengthened fear, and like a bird that has lost its feet and is unable to alight upon the ground, I would have to keep endlessly hovering.
*
And even now, when I think of the distance between us, the measure of it is the remoteness of your expression and nothing else.
*
Under any circumstances, I simply did not want to lose you. To lose you would be symbolic of losing the world.
*
Our silence was not the vacuum that comes from having said all there is to say. Whatever conversation we had fell naturally to pieces and crumbled in bitter silence.
*
One by one I endeavored to eject colors and forms from my memory as if spitting out sand from my mouth, but something always remained—you. […] the appearance of things around me was crystal-clear in my memory. The further away I got, the more clearly,the more distinctly your face floated before me, and I was at a loss to know what to do.
*
If I had suspected things would be like this, how much better to have pulled out at once. [...] Actually my confidence was not up to my explanation; my betrayed love had been drawn into a corner and changed to hate, my desire to reestablish the roadway had been frustrated and turned into a desire for revenge.
*
Fear strengthened fear, and like a bird that has lost its feet and is unable to alight upon the ground, I would have to keep endlessly hovering.
February 16, 2019
I don't even know what to say... I enjoyed every sentence of this book. This is by far one of the best books I've ever read.
January 2, 2021
Kobo Abe'nin düşünmesi ilginç konu seçimlerini ve okudukça düşündüren, düşündükçe ilginçleşen üslubunu seviyorum.
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