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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes Paperback - 1991

by Kobo Abe


From the publisher

The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side at this Sisyphean task.

From the jacket flap

One of the premier Japanese novels of the twentieth century, The Women in the Dunes combines the essence of myth, suspense, and the existential novel. In a remote seaside village, Niki Jumpei, a teacher and amateur entomologist, is held captive with a young woman at the bottom of a vast sand pit where, Sisyphus-like, they are pressed into shoveling off the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten the village.

Details

  • Title The Woman in the Dunes
  • Author Kobo Abe
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reissue
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage, New York
  • Date 1991-04-16
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Illustrated
  • ISBN 9780679733782 / 0679733787
  • Weight 0.42 lbs (0.19 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.06 x 5.22 x 0.53 in (20.47 x 13.26 x 1.35 cm)
  • Reading level 850
  • Library of Congress subjects Psychological fiction, Japan
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 90050625
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

“Devious, addictive. . . . Never less than compulsive. . . . Abe is an accomplished stylist.”
—David Mitchell
 
“Abe follows with meticulous precision his hero's constantly shifting physical, emotional and psychological states.”
The New York Times Book Review
 
“As is true of Poe and Kafka . . . Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on.”
The New Yorker

About the author

Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924 and grew up in Mukden, Manchuria, during World War II. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Considered one of Japan's foremost novelists, his most famous works include The Face of Another (1964), The Box Man (1973), Secret Rendezvous (1977), and The Ark Sakura (1984). All of Abe's books have been bestsellers in Japan and he was the recipient of numerous literary awards and prizes, including the Yomiuri Prize for The Woman in the Dunes in 1962. He collaborated with director Hiroshi Teshigahara on film adaptations of four of his novels--including The Woman in the Dunes--and was also widely known as a dramatist. He died in 1993.
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

by Abe, Kobo

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679733782 / 0679733787
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

by Kobo Abe

  • Used
  • Paperback
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Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679733782 / 0679733787
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

by Kobo Abe

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

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The Woman in the Dunes
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The Woman in the Dunes

by Abe, Kobo

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679733782 / 0679733787
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