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{{short description|1967 novel by Kōbō Abe}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox book
| name = ''The Ruined Map''
| image = The Ruined Map Abe.jpg
| image_size =
| border =
| alt =
| caption = Cover of first American edition
| author = [[Kōbō Abe]]
| title_orig = 燃え尽きた地図<br>Moetsukita chizu
| orig_lang_code =
| title_working =
| translator = [[E. Dale Saunders]]
| illustrator =
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| country = [[Japan]]
| language = Japanese
| series =
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| subject =
| genre = [[Existentialism]], [[Detective fiction]]
| set_in =
| publisher = [[Shinchosha]]
| publisher2 =
| pub_date = 1967
| english_pub_date = 1969
| published =
| media_type = Print
| pages =
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}}

'''''The Ruined Map''''' (燃え尽きた地図 ''Moetsukita chizu'', 1967) is a novel by [[Japan]]ese writer [[Kōbō Abe]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abe Kōbō {{!}} Japanese author {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abe-Kobo |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> translated into English by [[E. Dale Saunders]] for [[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]] in 1969.

==Plot==
''The Ruined Map'' is the story of an unnamed detective, hired by a beautiful alcoholic woman, to find clues related to the disappearance of her husband. In the process, the detective is given a map (a ruined one), supposedly to help him, but which turns out in the end to be more like a metaphor of the guidelines one should have in life. The impossibility of finding relevant clues to help him solve the mystery leads the main character to an [[existential crisis]], which builds slowly from the inside and finally puts him in the position of identifying himself with the man he was supposed to find.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/asiannovelists0000carl/page/199/mode/1up?q=199 |title=Critical Survey of Long Fiction: Asian Novelists |publisher=Salem Press |year=2012 |isbn=9781429836883 |editor-last=Rollyson |editor-first=Carl |pages=199}}</ref>

''The Ruined Map'' is exemplary of the postmodern detective novel, exploring themes such as urbanization, alienation, semiotic confusion, and narrative fallibility through classic elements of the noir genre. In this way, it can be read as a precursor to works like [[Paul Auster]]'s ''[[The New York Trilogy|New York Trilogy]]'' or [[Haruki Murakami]]'s ''[[Wild Sheep Chase]]''.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

A film adaptation of the story, ''[[The Man Without a Map]]'', was made by [[Hiroshi Teshigahara]] and released in 1968.<ref>{{Citation |last=Teshigahara |first=Hiroshi |title=Moetsukita chizu |date=1968-06-01 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203695/ |type=Mystery |publisher=Katsu Production |access-date=2022-04-12}}</ref>

==Reception==
John Leonard, writing in ''The New York Times'', chose ''The Ruined Map'' as one of the six best novels of 1969.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/ruinedmap00abek/mode/2up ''The Ruined Map''] at the [[Internet Archive]]

{{Kōbō Abe}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruined Map, The}}
[[Category:1967 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Kōbō Abe]]
[[Category:Japanese novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:1960s mystery novels]]

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The Ruined Map (novel) - Revision history

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