Authors:
Abe, Kōbō Translated by: Bajarūnas, Romualdas
Full translated source bibliographical description:
Abe, Kobo. Hakootoko, Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1982
Published on: 1991
The nature of identity itself is the ostensible subject of this bizarrely fascinating existential novel from the great Japanese fiction writer and dramatist Kobo Abe. In the story, a man decides to give up the self that he has been all his life to attain a state of blissful anonymity. He leaves his world behind and moves onto the streets of Tokyo. He puts a large box over his head, cuts a hole for his eyes. It is as strange as it sounds, but Abe’s light touch and narrative innovation makes it compelling.