{"product_id":"the-factory","title":"The Factory","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe English-language debut of one of Japan’s most exciting new writers, \u003cem\u003eThe Factory\u003c\/em\u003e follows three workers at a sprawling industrial factory. Each worker focuses intently on the specific task they’ve been assigned: one shreds paper, one proofreads documents, and another studies the moss growing all over the expansive grounds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir lives slowly become governed by their work—days take on a strange logic and momentum, and little by little, the margins of reality seem to be dissolving: Where does the factory end and the rest of the world begin? What’s going on with the strange animals here?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd after a while—it could be weeks or years—the three workers struggle to answer the most basic question: What am I doing here? With hints of Kafka and unexpected moments of creeping humor, \u003cem\u003eThe Factory\u003c\/em\u003e casts a vivid—and sometimes surreal—portrait of the absurdity and meaninglessness of the modern workplace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Through these characters, Oyamada has crafted a titanic ecosystem of modern work life, complete with the obligatory never-ending office dinner with co-workers and the emergence of strange new species conjured up by the meaningless, enervating patterns of the 9-to-5 existence.\" — Japan Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Hiroko Oyamada’s \u003cem\u003eThe Factory\u003c\/em\u003e descends from a lineage of workplace fiction that includes Melville’s 'Bartleby the Scrivener,'' Joseph Heller’s \u003cem\u003eSomething Happened\u003c\/em\u003e and Ricky Gervais’ \u003cem\u003eThe Office\u003c\/em\u003e.\" — Sam Sacks, \u003cem\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Oyamada is fond of jump cuts and scenes that dissolve mid-paragraph and flow into the next without so much as a line break. A pleasant vertigo sets in. Objects have a way of suddenly appearing in the hands of characters. Faces become increasingly vivid and grotesque. Nothing feels fixed; everything in the book might be a hallucination.\" — Parul Sehgal, \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Directions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46659109126402,"sku":"9780811228855","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2228\/7429\/files\/the-factory-pow.jpg?v=1754770173","url":"https:\/\/stlartsupply.mom\/en-au\/products\/the-factory","provider":"St. Louis Art Supply","version":"1.0","type":"link"}