A study of Abe Kobe's "The Face of Another" : mask and act

• Nakano Kazunori

  Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• 安部公房『他人の顔』論 : 仮面と行為

Abstract

The subject matter of Abe Kobe's "The Face of Another" is the loss of a man's face. "I" was seriously injured in the face in an accident. What is the meaning of the loss of a man's face in contemporary society where people are asked to show their identities? What becomes clear through his hard struggles in making an elaborate mask and tempting his wife is how man is influenced by his face. "I" goes into the city with the mask on and knows that the world is a prison and people are its prisoners. Why did he say, " The world is a prison?" And on one hand he has some sympathy for Koreans in Japan, Blacks in America and a girl from Hiroshima, who are alienated in the community on account of their faces, on the other he feels that something is wrong. How is this related to his recognition that the world is a prison? In this essay I try to make clear the extension of the representation of the face in "The Face of Another".

Journal

• Comparatio

  Comparatio 6 1-10, 2002-05-20

  Society of Comparative Culｔural Studies, Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University

Keywords

• 安部公房
• 他人の顔
• 監獄
• 暴力
• Abe Kobo
• Tanin no Kao
• The Face of Another
• prison

Details

• CRID: 1390572174790058624
• NII Article ID: 110007159067
• NII Book ID: AA11370798
• DOI: 10.15017/16017
• HANDLE: 2324/16017
• Text Lang: ja
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • IRDB
  • CiNii Articles
• Abstract License Flag: Allowed