The Face of Another
1964 novel by Kōbō Abe
The Face of Another (Japanese: 他人の顔, Hepburn: Tanin no kao) is a 1964 novel written by the Japanese novelist Kōbō Abe. Like other stories written by this author, the novel explores the alienation of modern man from urban society. It is written in the first person narrative mode, and is divided into a prologue, three "notebooks" (black, gray, and white), and a concluding letter from the protagonist's wife. In 1966, it was adapted into a film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara.
Synopsis
An industrial accident has severely burned the face of an unnamed plastics scientist. His wife is repulsed by his disfigurement and refuses to have sexual contact with him. In an effort to regain the affection of his wife, he attempts to create a prosthetic mask in a rented apartment. With this new "face," the protagonist sees the world in a new way and begins a clandestine affair with his estranged wife. Although the mask gives the man newfound freedom, at the end of the story, it becomes difficult to determine if the mask has taken ownership of the man or the man has taken ownership of the face.
There is also a subplot following a hibakusha woman who has suffered burns to the right side of her face.
The public source identifies “The Face of Another” as 1964 novel by Kōbō Abe. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Face, Another and novel.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8189271. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964 and 1966.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Face of Another” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.