The Story Archive

The Box Man

Kōbō Abe · 1973 CE · Novel · Japanese · Contemporary

A man saws a viewing slit into a large cardboard carton, pulls it down over his head to the hips, and goes out to live in it on the streets of Tokyo, writing on the inner wall by torchlight. Nobody looks at a box man, which is exactly why a box man sees everything; there is also a counterfeit, a nurse, a doctor who wants the box, and an air rifle involved in how the writing started. The manuscript arrives unsigned and out of order.

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Attributes

Genre
PsychologicalAllegory
Theme
Identity & SelfIsolation & AlienationExistential AbsurdityAppearance vs Reality
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
The DoubleEverymanShadow
Plot structure
MetafictionUnreliable NarratorNonlinear / Fractured
Symbol / motif
The Box / JarThe MaskThe City
Conflict
vs Selfvs Society
Mode / tone
AbsurdistMetafictional
Culture / tradition
Japanese

Closest analogues