The Woman in the Dunes

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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, and together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side through this Sisyphean of tasks.

241 pages, Paperback

First published June 8,1962

About the author

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Kōbō Abe (安部 公房 Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe, was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer, and inventor.

He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.

Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.

He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.

In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.

Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
28(28%)
4 stars
34(34%)
3 stars
37(37%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
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99 reviews All reviews
April 26,2025
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Romanian review: Dacă ai lua cartea ca atare, fără să te gândești că există o simbolistică/filozofie în spate, atunci ai avea de-a face cu o carte monotonă, relativ plictisitoare. ,,Femeia nisipurilor" este cel mai probabil o reinterpretare a Mitului lui Sisif, munca absurdă, fără folos, de a îndepărta nisipul, doar pentru ca altul să-i ia locul, amintește de povestea lui Sisif.
Cu siguranță există o mulțime de interpretări pentru această carte. Eu am asociat îndepărtatul nisipului și tentativele protagonistului de a evada cu încercarea umanității de a atinge cunoașterea deplină, încercare fără de speranță, care se termină în frustrare și dezamăgire.
Finalul în care, deși Niki Jumpei putea evada fără să i se opună nimeni, se hotărăște să rămână în sat , îmi sugerează ideea că singura cale de a scăpa de suferința, de frustrarea și nefericirea căutării cunoașterii absolute este să ne acceptăm condiția de ființe limitate, exact ca Sisif. Calea spre fericire este monotonia și renunțarea la idealuri înalte, care depășesc mintea umană.
Probabil că autorul a avut mult mai multe de transmis, femeia fără nume cu care Niki Jumpei este forțat să trăiască simbolizează cu certitudine ceva, dar nu sunt încă sigur ce. Am citit că unii oameni au interpretat-o fie ca pe calea spre salvare, fie ca pe calea spre autodistrugere, condamnare.
,,Femeia nisipurilor" a fost o carte oarecum bizară, claustrofobă, care mă face, chiar și la ceva timp după terminarea ei, să încerc să-i înțeleg toate sensurile, motiv pentru care eu îi dau trei stele și jumătate.



English review: If you were to take the book at face value, without thinking that there is some symbolism/philosophy behind it, then you would be dealing with a monotonous, relatively boring book. "The Woman in the Dunes" is most likely a reinterpretation of the Myth of Sisyphus, the absurd, pointless labor of removing sand, only for another to take its place, is reminiscent of the story of Sisyphus.
There are certainly lots of interpretations for this book. I associate the removal of the sand and the protagonist's attempts to escape with humanity's attempt to attain full knowledge, a hopeless attempt that ends in frustration and disappointment.
The ending in which, though Niki Jumpei could have escaped unopposed, he decides to stay in the village , suggests to me the idea that the only way to escape the suffering, frustration and unhappiness of the quest for absolute knowledge is to accept our condition as limited beings, just like Sisyphus. The way to happiness is monotony and the renunciation of lofty ideals that transcend the human mind.
Perhaps the author had much more to convey, the nameless woman that Niki Jumpei is forced to live with definitely symbolizes something, but I'm not sure what yet. I've read that some people have interpreted it as either the path to salvation or the path to self-destruction.
"The Woman in the Dunes" was a somewhat bizarre, claustrophobic book that makes me, even some time after finishing it, try to understand all its meanings, which is why I give it three and a half stars.

April 26,2025
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مرد جوان که حرفه ی حشره شناسی دارد برای جمع کردن حشره وارد دِهی می‌شود که اطرافش پر از شن است در آنجا با زنی در گودالی گرفتار می‌شود که هر روزه خطر ریزش شن هس و اگر آن‌ها را تخیله نکنند زیر شن مدفون می‌شوند این مرد برای فرار از آن نقطه دست به نقشه‌های می‌کشد و موفق می‌شود ولی بعد از مدتی توسط اهالی دِه اسیر شده دوباره سر جای اولش برمی‌گردد و با زن رابطه‌ی وابستگی ایجاد می‌شود و تلاش‌ها و کارهای او برای فرار ادامه دارد و در این بین متوجه می‌شود که با استفاده از خاصیت مویینگی شن می‌تواند آب بدست آورد و زمانی که زن را اهالی ده به خاطر بارداری به بیمارستان می‌برند نردبانی که مدت‌ها می‌خواسته باقی می‌ماند ولی مرد تمایلی ندارد که از آن منطقه دور شود می‌توان نتیجه گرفت که تلاش ها و کوشش‌های بسیار که با شکست روبه‌رو می‌شود بعد مدتی آدمیزاد به شرایط موجود خود را وفق می‌دهد و عادت می‌کند به این شرایط.

April 26,2025
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Sadece son zamanlarda değil şimdiye kadar okuduğum en iyi kitaplardan biriydi. Uzun zamandır özlemini çektiğim "Suç ve Ceza", "Satranç" ve hatta "Monte Kristo Kontu" seviyesinde bir kitaptı. Gerçekten okurken çok zevk aldım çok mutlu oldum.
Bir adam var. Bir böcek kolleksiyoncusu.Kaplan sineği denen az görülür bir böceği bulmak için deniz kenarında üca bir köye gidiyor. Ve bu köyde hava kararana kadar Kaplan sineğinin peşinde dolanıyor ve akşam üstü köylülerden geceyi geçirmek için bir yer istiyor.
Köyden bahsetmek gerekirse köy deniz kenarında fakir mi fakir, deniz kenarında olmasına ragmen balıkçılık bile yapılamayan ve en önemli özelliği kumlarla kaplı olması olan allahın unuttuğu bir köy.
Kum bütün hayatı kaplamış durumda. Tek motivasyoları "kum" bu adamların. Tüm hayatlarını yönlendiriyor kum. Ona gore yatıp ona gore kalkıyorlar. Yedikleri içtikleri hep kuma gore ayarlı. Afedersiniz kıç aralarında kum taneleriyle yaşıyorlar. Ve bu esasen yaşanması imkansız olan bu köyü asla terketmiyorlar.
İşte bizim böcekçiyide gidip bir kum çukurunda yapayalnız yaşayan otuzlarında bir kadının yanına koyyorlar.
Aslında bu bir adam kaçırma eylemi. Çok kısa bir sure içinde anlıyoruz ki o kum çukurunda ki evden çıkmanın imkanı yok.
Adam esir alındığını anlıyor. Ve muhteşem kitap başlıyor.
Adam kaçmak için herşeyi deniyor. Aklınıza gelen gelmeyen herşeyi deniyor.
en sonunda...
Edebiyat hat safhada. Benzetmelerine örneklemelerine ve tariflerine bayıldım. Bayıldım Bayıldım.
Hikaye ve kurgu zaten zeka örneği. Nasıl düşünebiliyor böyle şeyleri.
Ve alt metin. Satır araları. Ya adam bütün hayatı anlatmış. Mecazlar metaforlar benzeteler imalar.
Çok dolu kitap çok.
Yavaş yavaş okumak lazım.
Hatta hayatta sadece bir kaç kitap için söyledim (Mesela "Körleşme"), Kumların Kadını içinde söyleyeceğim; bir daha okumak lazım. Hatta hayat boyunca ara ara okumak lazım.
Baş yapıt şaheser efsane
April 26,2025
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Never in my life did I think I'd enjoy entire chapters about bugs, sand and more sand.

This was a great break from my only exposure to Japanese literature (Murakami) and it was a fantastic book. Full review to come. First I need to shake off some sand.



April 26,2025
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My first year at SFSU, me and my roommate decided to recommend books to each other, books we loved, in order to get to know each other better. It was the kind of quasi-homoerotic, pseudo-intellectual buddy activity which has since become the staple of our relationship.

The first book he recommended was "Woman in the Dunes". I struggled with it and felt intellectually inferior. He was my friend and I wanted to like it. I tried really hard. I fell asleep reading it at least three times. I remember one late, drunken night riding home from some bar on the MUNI, him asking me what I thought of the book, and faltering through a pretentious attempt at praising the existential wonders of the book. I thought he looked disappointed, and that I had failed him.

When I finished the book, I decided to man-up and tell him what I really felt. "I couldn't stand this book," I said. "It was boring and tedious." I waited for him to lash into me with accusations of my stupidity, and for our friendship to end. Instead, he laughed, and said, "Yeah, I really hate this book, too. I just made you read it to fuck with you."
April 26,2025
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“While he mused on the effect of the flowing sands, he was seized from time to time by hallucinations in which he himself began to move with the flow.”

This book is about a man who tricked and has to live in a house at the bottom of a sand pit with a woman. They can't escape the sand which settles on them even as they sleep. As much as they shovel it away, they can't get rid of it.

This is definitely a unique story. I now know more about sand than I probably need to. I never really thought much about sand but I kind of didn't have a choice in this book.
April 26,2025
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I read this, second year at Durham, so 86/87, was in rebellion against Geography books. Probably attracted by the naked woman torso on the cover, however, the writing is sensual and erotic. It's only years later do I discover that Japan is possibly one of the most prolific in terms of sexual, and sensual i.e. as in good - Nobel good, not trashy sexy.
It's something of a contradiction given the very formal and discreet nature of Japanese culture. Interesting to say the least.
Also a very strong tradition of Romance. "An unrequited love affair," was the response from a Japanese girl (not my class, a friend's ESL). The topic was career plans - could this indicate the repressed status of female in Japan, OR, the importance of passion, the pain of experience, the profundity of expression - it's very 1920s bohemian?

I think there was a profound absorption of European culture post WW1; it was the time Japan opened to the West.

Kobo Abe, however, seems to have left this self-exploration and moved to a distinctly post-modern, at least post WWII feel. It is strange how writers can reflect the psychology of a country, the whole often un-specified in dialogue, or else restricted to a political frame.

Hence my long standing interest in Japanese writers.
April 26,2025
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Suffocating, hot, and sandy. Sand everywhere. Sand in your ears, in your pants, sticking to your throat. This was such a claustrophobic read. Reminded me of The Metamorphosis in some ways. Full of existential dread and poses the question: Are we all not just digging sand?
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