“The Woman in the Dunes” by Kobo Abe (post 4): Portrait of a man, trapped in dunes, who is freed when he finds a new self, a novelist

In the end, the man is allowed to leave the dunes, but he is in no hurry.

What had changed?

“…he had found a new self” (1, p. 236).

Judging by the existence of this novel, and what he and the narrator had discussed (see past post), his new self was evidently a writer.

The dialogue between protagonist and narrator—between autonomous, minds of their own, alternate personalities—reveals a creative process that included multiple personality.

1. Kobo Abe. The Woman in the Dunes [1962]. Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders (1964). New York, Vintage International, 1991.