The problem of the mirror in Kobo abe’s the face of another: a lacanian psychoanalytic perspective

Abstract

This article examines the problem of the mirror in Kobo Abe’s The Face of Another through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis. While in the primordial experience the mirror enables the child to construct a coherent ego through the reflected image and the confirming gaze of the Other the protagonist in the novel undergoes a tragic reversal of this process. His disfigured face leads to the gradual collapse of the ego. In desperation, he attempts to create an artificial mask, yet this synthetic surface functions only as a “distorted mirror,” generating a fictitious ego and driving him deeper into misrecognition. His longing for recognition, redirected toward the Other, is met only with distance and refusal, turning the Others into “mirrors of negation” that propel him toward an absolute state of isolation.