The Face of Another

The Face of Another
AuthorKōbō Abe
Original title他人の顔
Tanin no kao
TranslatorE. Dale Saunders
IllustratorRobert Steele Wallace [US ed.]
LanguageJapanese
PublisherKodansha
Publication date
1964
Publication placeJapan
Published in English
1966
Media typePrint
Pages387 [Japanese ed.]

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.