The Face of Another

Kōbō Abe · 1924–1993 · Japan

Originally Tanin no Kao (Japanese) · translated by E. Dale Saunders

Why it matters

A scientist disfigured in an accident builds a lifelike mask and uses it to seduce his own wife. Abe's chilling parable of identity and alienation: the self as nothing more than the surface others see.

At a glance

Notebook-form narration and abstract philosophical digression on identity.