The Woman in the Dunes - Softcover
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.
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.
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Review:
This beautiful novel by one of Japan's most important writers is also one of the most strangely terrifying and memorable books you'll ever read. The Woman in the Dunes is the story of an amateur entomologist who wanders alone into a remote seaside village in pursuit of a rare beetle he wants to add to his collection. But the townspeople take him prisoner. They lower him into the sand-pit home of a young widow, a pariah in the poor community, who the villagers have condemned to a life of shoveling back the ever-encroaching dunes that threaten to bury the town. An amazing book.
From the Back Cover:
"Abe follows with meticulous precision his hero's constantly shifting physical, emotional and psychological states. He also presents...everyday existence in a sand pit with such compelling realism that these passages serve both to heighten the credibility of the bizarre plot and subtly increase the interior tensions of the novel."
-- The New York Times Book Review
"Some of Kobo Abe's readers will recall Kafka's manipulation of a nightmarish tyranny of the unknown, others Beckett's selection of sites like the sand pit...as a symbol of the undignified human predicament." -- Saturday Review
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- PublisherVintage
- Publication date1991
- ISBN 10 0679733787
- ISBN 13 9780679733782
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages256
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The Woman in the Dunes Format: Paperback
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Penguin Random House
(1991)
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The Woman in the Dunes
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(1991)
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. No Jacket. An amateur entomologist visits the seashore, and misses the last bus home. He is offered a place to stay at the bottom of a vast sand pit. The locals don't let him leave, but is put to work shoveling back the sand dunes, with only an odd young woman as a companion. In print @ $16.00. Seller Inventory # 017142
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The Woman in the Dunes (Paperback)
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Vintage, New York
(1991)
ISBN 10: 0679733787
ISBN 13: 9780679733782
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. This contemporary Japanese novel combines elements of myth, suspense, and existentialism. In a remote seaside village, Niki Jumpei, a teacher and amateur entomologist, is held captive with a young woman at the bottom of a sand pit, where they must shovel off the ever-advancing sand dunes. 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. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780679733782
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Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780679733782
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