Box Man - Kobo Abe

I am currently reading the english version of 箱男 (Box Man) by Kobo Abe. It’s a very strange sort of narrative that seems very loose in structure. It’s not like it’s hard to follow, but it does seem like a free-flow of speech rather than a constructed narrative. I’m not sure how to explain this style of writing in words. In any case, the protagonist is a man that lives inside a box. Below is one of the passages that I particularly liked, as it talks about ‘the gaze’ - which is so important within  a photographic context (for the record: the protagonist is also a photographer, as was the author.)

“The act of spying on someone else is generally looked upon with scorn is because, I suppose, one does not want to be on the side of being seen. When one cannot avoid being seen it is common sense to demand compensation. As a matter of fact, in the theater or in the cinema usually those who look pay money and those who are looked at receive it. Anybody would rather look than be looked at. The fact that they keep on and on selling endless instruments for “looking”-radios and televisions-is excellent proof that ninety nine percent of men are aware of their own unsightliness. ”

What I didn’t realise whilst reading, up until today, is that the actual book also includes a series of photographs. The reason I didn’t realise this is that because all libraries are closed at the moment, I had to find this book on the internet, and only found a PDF version that includes raw text but no imagery. Whilst I was looking for an image of the cover for this post specifically, I came across a very helpful website that details the images in the book, with an analysis of each and a brief description of its relation (or lack of) to the text. The anonymous author of this website states that “Aside from this opening photograph, images in The Box Man are of interest for two reasons. First, the eight photographs and accompanying brief texts distributed through the text do not coordinate easily or clearly with the narrative. They aren’t incompatible, but they don’t illustrate the text. Their slant relation to the narrative is one unusual thing about the book. The other reason is the intensely visual nature of the narrative, which proposes many kinds of visible objects—especially including box men—none of which are illustrated.”

The images above are taken from Writing With Images, the website I mentioned before. What I found particularly interesting was that the website’s author had access to the images in the Wildenstein catalogue, and these included the photographer’s notes in Japanese.

So how does this relate to my own folio? I’m not quite sure yet. Perhaps it is the combination of image and text, or the raw nature of the photos, or the way that they compel the viewer to try and draw meaning from them. I’m still working this out myself, but as I read more of the book (I am about 60% of the way through) I think I will come to a better understanding.

(1) Abe, K 2001, The Box Man, 2nd edn, Random House USA, New York.

(2) Writing With Images, 2019, viewed 23 May 2020, <http://writingwithimages.com/4-6-kobo-abe-the-box-man/>