The Box Man

Kobe Abe's The Box Man (1973) is a fictional diary of an unstable man who has been living with a box over two thirds of his torso. The first person narrative of an unstable man calls to mind Dostoevsky's Notes from an Underground Man. The text includes random 35 mm photos with poetry-like captions written on them throughout the novel. This story is told from the point of view of an unstable narrator and displays an interesting experiment in narrative technique. Some of the main themes in the novel are questions of identity, point of view, voyeurism, and sexuality that it explores throughout.