Translated from Japanese by Vladimir Grivnin; Introduction. article by Nikolay Fedorenko . — Moscow: Rainbow, 1982. — (Masters of Modern Prose Japan). All three novels of the famous Japanese writer Kobo Abe are devoted to the topic of loneliness of a person in a capitalist society hostile to him. The hero of the novel “Alien Face”, mutilated by an explosion in the laboratory, tries to create a new face-mask, but understands that the face of a person is his conscience. A private detective looking for a missing person in the novel “The Burned Card” suddenly learns the logic of the fugitive. In the form of a grotesque, the idea of alienation is expressed in the novel-allegory "Man-box", where the hero tries to hide from the world behind the cardboard walls of the box. It is impossible to escape from society, - comes to the conclusion of Kobo Abe Only by changing it can the conditions of human existence be changed. :::::::