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A review by friedegger
Wajah Lelaki Lain by Kōbō Abe
3.0
The Face of Another is an intriguing novel- the ideas and characterisation are rich, but the pacing and language is such that it feels like one is reading the work through a glass darkly, one or two steps removed from the immediacy of the narrative. It's difficult to say whether this is the fault of the writer or the translator.
The core theme: the mask as the other, through which the protagonist is transformed, is a gripping notion and it's exploration here is more existential than, say, the exploration of the fake beard in Huxley's Antic Hay. A closer reading (re-reading?) would have been ideal to draw out all the implications Abe intended.
The core theme: the mask as the other, through which the protagonist is transformed, is a gripping notion and it's exploration here is more existential than, say, the exploration of the fake beard in Huxley's Antic Hay. A closer reading (re-reading?) would have been ideal to draw out all the implications Abe intended.