The Woman in the Dunes
by Kobo Abe
Read: May/June 2008
Rating: UGH
This was recommended to me for my senior capstone project. I dutifully made it to the end, but gawd was it painful. Exemplifies all that I hate in a certain kind of writing, usually seen in short stories. Only this was longer. Unjustifiably so, in my opinion.
Junpei (sadly, not the awesome n1nj4 Junpei from Megatokyo) is a salaryman with a hobby of collecting butterflies. He’s in something of a mood, so he sets off for his vacation without telling anywhere where he’s going–you know, cuz he’s an ass like that. He treks way out to the shore and this one tiny town, because he’s trying to find a specific type of butterfly. (He’s hoping to find an unknown or rare breed, so he can claim it and give it his own name, immortality for insect collectors.)
This is no ordinary village, however. When he approaches them asking for a place to stay (nothing like calling ahead, making reservations, or approaching people on arrival instead of just before dusk) they say sure… and take him to the middle of the dunes and put him down in a pit with a widowed woman and a crumbling shack.
This is the remnants of the old village (or something). The sand dunes are constantly threatening to swallow these hovels, and so the people who live there must shovel the sand out every night. A team from the safer village lowers buckets down and they cart the sand away. This is the way things are, and there is no room for argument.
Junpei is an ass. He is a self-righteous idiot who demands they treat him well, threatens when he has no leverage, and selfishly takes advantage of what few resources he does have. He expects everything to be fixed just because he says so. No wonder his first wife divorced him.
The woman living in the sandpit doesn’t get a name. He doesn’t care about her, except maybe as a tool. She’s naive in some ways (sex vs. love/companionship), and yet resigned to her way of life and very pragmatic. Never once does Junpei make a true effort to get to know her or ask for her help or offer her a better life that HE will help her to get.
No, because he’s just an ass. That would be too reasonable.
Not only is our protagonist wholly unlikable, the entire situation they’re in is maddening. The houses being covered by the dunes are a long way from the village proper which looks like any other town. There’s no good reason for people to live at the bottom of these sandpits, where they aren’t really living. These creaking wooden shacks are the only protection from the sun. They are not allowed to leave (HINT to village headman: That means it’s a stupid idea) and not even able to socialize with other pit-people. This is NOT A LIFE. And the other village is so far away that they’re not threatened by the sand! WTF, DUDEZZ0RS. It’s some kind of forced servitude with no damn purpose. No one is making any money from it, it’s just eternal busywork.
Sure, they clearly have some sentimental attachment to this spot. These are their homes, how can they leave them?
YOU LEAVE WHEN IT’S NO LONGER SAFE OR PROFITABLE. Dimwads.
Stories like this make me angry. Nimrods making each other miserable for pleasure. We have enough of that going on in the real world as it is, I don’t need to read about the endless, crushing cycle. I want to see someone really break through it. THAT is a story.
I took a peek at the Amazon reviews, to see what people who like the book had to say.
Mysterious, Atmospheric and Haunting Permalink
As in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” from which Abe clearly is drawing, Junpei becomes more and more distanced from his previous life in Tokyo. Shamefully, secretly, he becomes sexual[sic] entangled with the young widow, in a way that seems almost as if he is unaware of the impact this will have on their lives. He is finding a home and a purpose and he’s needed. And wanted. Is he still a prisoner, if he needs the village in return?
The metaphor for Japanese society, where utter conformity is the ultimate value, and for the inevitable alienation individuals must feel, is magnificent. Even our own society, which allows for magnitudes more individuality and freedom, is reflected strangely in this masterpiece of a novel.
Find a home and a purpose where he’s needed and wanted? Dude, HE’S TRAPPED IN A HOLE IN THE SAND and could DIE. This does NOT count as heartwarming.
Bottom line: not impressed.
