The Ruined Map (燃え尽きた地図 Moetsukita chizu, 1967) is a novel by Japanese writer Kōbō Abe,[1] translated into English by E. Dale Saunders for Knopf in 1969.

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.

[2] 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 New York Trilogy or Haruki Murakami's Wild Sheep Chase.

[citation needed] A film adaptation of the story, The Man Without a Map, was made by Hiroshi Teshigahara and released in 1968.