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The Box Man by Kobo Abe

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The Box Man

A Novel

A Novel

By Kobo Abe

By Kobo Abe

By Kobo Abe

By Kobo Abe

Part of Vintage International

Part of Vintage International

Paperback $15.00

Jul 10, 2001 | 192 Pages

Ebook $9.99

Dec 14, 2011 | 192 Pages

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    The Box Man by Kobo Abe
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    Jul 10, 2001 | 192 Pages
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    • Paperback $15.00

      Jul 10, 2001 | 192 Pages

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    • Ebook $9.99

      Dec 14, 2011 | 192 Pages

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    About The Box Man

    Kobo Abe, the internationally acclaimed author of Woman in the Dunes, combines wildly imaginative fantasies and naturalistic prose to create narratives reminiscent of the work of Kafka and Beckett.

    In this eerie and evocative masterpiece, the nameless protagonist gives up his identity and the trappings of a normal life to live in a large cardboard box he wears over his head. Wandering the streets of Tokyo and scribbling madly on the interior walls of his box, he describes the world outside as he sees or perhaps imagines it, a tenuous reality that seems to include a mysterious rifleman determined to shoot him, a seductive young nurse, and a doctor who wants to become a box man himself. The Box Man is a marvel of sheer originality and a bizarrely fascinating fable about the very nature of identity.

    Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders.

    About The Box Man

    Kobo Abe, the internationally acclaimed author of Woman in the Dunes, combines wildly imaginative fantasies and naturalistic prose to create narratives reminiscent of the work of Kafka and Beckett.

    In this eerie and evocative masterpiece, the nameless protagonist gives up his identity and the trappings of a normal life to live in a large cardboard box he wears over his head. Wandering the streets of Tokyo and scribbling madly on the interior walls of his box, he describes the world outside as he sees or perhaps imagines it, a tenuous reality that seems to include a mysterious rifleman determined to shoot him, a seductive young nurse, and a doctor who wants to become a box man himself. The Box Man is a marvel of sheer originality and a bizarrely fascinating fable about the very nature of identity.

    Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.

    About Kobo Abe

    Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924 and grew up in Mukden, Manchuria, during World War II. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Considered one of Japan’s foremost novelists, his… More about Kobo Abe

    About Kobo Abe

    Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924 and grew up in Mukden, Manchuria, during World War II. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Considered one of Japan’s foremost novelists, his… More about Kobo Abe

    Product Details

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $15.00
    Published by Vintage
    Jul 10, 2001 | 192 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780375726514

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $9.99
    Published by Vintage
    Dec 14, 2011 | 192 Pages | ISBN 9780307813695

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    Praise

    “A spellbinder from beginnning to end, an edgy masterpiece.”–Chicago Sun-Times

    “A stunning addition to the literature of eccentricity…an ontological thriller.”–The New York Times

    “Brilliant…. Like Kafka’s, Abe’s work reveals an astonishing ability to create dreamlike events."–Chicago Tribune

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