The Face of Another - Kobo Abe [0]
The Face of Another
Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924, grew up in Manchuria, and returned to Japan in his early twenties. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Before his death in 1993, Abe was considered his country’s foremost living novelist, and was also widely known as a dramatist. His novels have earned many literary awards and prizes, and have all been bestsellers in Japan. They include The Woman in the Dunes, Kangaroo Notebook, The Ark Sakura, The Face of Another, The Box Man, and The Ruined Map.
Also by KOBO ABE
NOVELS
Kangaroo Notebook
The Ark Sakura
The Ruined Map
The Box Man
Secret Rendezvous
The Woman in the Dunes
Inter Ice Age 4
SHORT STORIES
Beyond the Curve
PLAYS
Three Plays by Kobo Abe
Translated from the Japanese by
E. DALE SAUNDERS
FIRST VINTAGE INTERNATIONAL EDITION, FEBRUARY 2003
Translation copyright © 1966, renewed 1995 by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published as Tanin No Kao in Japan by Kodansha, Tokyo, copyright © 1964 by Kobo Abe. This translation first published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1966.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks and Vintage International and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Abe, Kobo.
The face of another. [Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders.]
[Tanin no Kao. English]
New York, Knopf, 1966.
p. cm.
1. Japan—Fiction. I. Title.
PZ4.A13 Fact
66017968
eISBN: 978-0-307-81372-5
www.vintagebooks.com
v3.1
Contents
Cover
About the Author
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Note
The Black Notebook
The White Notebook
The Grey Notebook
About the Translator
NOTE
The forty-four drawings in this volume
are by Robert Steele Wallace.
AT LAST you have come, threading your way through the endless passages of the maze. With the map you got from him, you have finally found your way to my hideaway—the first room at the top of the creaking, harmonium-pedal stairs. You’ve mounted with somewhat shaky steps. You hold your breath and knock. Why is there no answer? Instead, only a young girl comes running like a kitten. She is supposed to open the door for you. You ask if there isn’t a message; the girl doesn’t answer but smiles and runs away.
You peep in, looking for him. But he isn’t there, not a trace is left; and an odor of ruin floats in the air. A dead room. Expressionless walls look back at you; you shudder. As you are about to go, though with a feeling of guilt, the three notebooks on the table, together with the letter, catch your eye, and you realize that you too are trapped at last. No matter how loathesome the thoughts that well up in you, you cannot resist the temptation. You have torn open the envelope with trembling hands, and now you are beginning to read the letter.
You are probably humiliated and angry. But I should like you to fix your eyes on the paper, though you don’t want to, and go on reading. I want so desperately for you to come safely through this moment and make a step toward me. Have I lost to him or has he lost to me? Either way, my masked play is over. I have murdered him, and I proclaim myself the criminal. I shall confess everything, entirely. Whether you act out of generosity or selfishness, I want you to go on reading. He who has the right to sit in judgment also has the obligation to listen to the defendant’s statement.
You may be suspected, of course, of false complicity if you simply abandon me as I kneel here. Well, sit down; relax. If the air in the room is bad, open the window at once. A teapot and cups are in the kitchen if you want them. As soon as you settle down, the place will