Haruki Murakami

This paper sought to reveal insights into how Haruki Murakami's After Dark is reflective of the isolation currently being experienced by Japanese society today. The writer analyzed and consolidated the author's writing style and explored the prominence of the theme of isolation on the novel's protagonist. This was achieved using a formalist approach to the story, sticking only to what the text has to offer and give evidence for. The paper found that the expression of a society's culture can be seen in how they depict themselves for others to read and understand them, especially in analyzing the character of Mari.

The career of novelist Haruki Murakami has conventionally been divided into two periods: detachment and commitment. Murakami's transition to commitment, in the sense of a social engagement with a defined political sensibility, is generally seen to begin with the novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle [1995]. However, the so-called Rat Trilogy (Hear the Wind Sing [1979], Pinball, 1973 [1980] and A Wild Sheep Chase [1982]) sees Murakami address the concept of shutaisei—the question of individual agency and subjectivity at the centre of Japan's student activist movement in the late 1960s. Examining the trilogy's central characters through the lens of shutaisei, I argue that a commitment to political and historical awareness can already be found in Murakami's early works.

Este libro narra la odisea de un adolescente llamado Kafka Tamura que se escapa de su casa el día en que cumple quince años. A partir de ese momento, este joven solitario inicia un viaje alucinante, repleto de misterios y acontecimientos inquietantes, en busca de su identidad como ser humano. En este recorrido, lleno de luces y sombras, encuentra a diferentes personajes que le acompañan en su peregrinaje a través de un singular universo onírico. Bajo los oscuros vaticinios de una antigua profecía y amenazado por sus propios fantasmas, el protagonista se dirige por un angosto y tortuoso camino, pleno de angustia, dolor y de incertidumbre, hasta encontrar las claves que ocultan su destino.

The two postmodern novels "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami and "Asleep" by Banana Yoshimoto both engage with the concept of 'memory' as a central theme of their respective narratives. Murakami explores memory as something connective but nearing obsolescence as reality wanes, while Yoshimoto uses it to highlight how it can connect people positively across realms and pull them closer or further from reality.

Literary stardom has put great pressures on the authorship of Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami (1949). In the construction of his public persona, several authorial discourses and cultural conventions clash, resulting in an authorial identity crisis. This article invokes insights from the French sociologist Nathalie Heinich in order to demonstrate that the author negotiates the resulting tensions through a balanced form of self-presentation: in interviews as well as in his literary work, Murakami mediates between literary celebrity and authorial modesty. By doing so, he succeeds in constructing a counter-narrative that allows him to regain control of his authorial identity.

[Draft version: please refer to the published version of this chapter in Gaston Franssen & Rick Honings (eds.), Idolizing Authorship: Literary Celebrity and the Construction of Identity, 1800 to the Present (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2017, pp. 217-237).]

Chapter 14: Postmodern cities. 5,000 words. This chapter discusses the two principal strands of the postmodern city novel: texts in which the city is presented as a verbal labyrinth,
simulacrum, or technoscape (e. g. the fiction of Auster, Borges, Calvino, Murakami, Pamuk), and texts that depict the city as conceived in postmodern urbanist discourse: the city defined by branded spaces – consumerist simulacra of properly historical urban spaces – existing amidst dilapidated interstitial spaces (e.g., Martin Amis, Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, José Saramago, Iain Sinclair, but including novels of any comparable city wherever sited), and the entwining of the two strands as the city and the lives it sustains work out their entropic trajectories, primarily absent the sort of crisis that qualifies the fictional city as properly dystopian. The presentation of the subject locates the literature in relation to poststructuralist thought or theories of postmodern urban and social theory by citing relevant theorists. It identifies, as appropriate, the presence and force of redemptive energies in the literature, and highlights the engagements with, and critiques of the history and enabling ideologies of postwar urban (re)development to the extent that they present themselves in the content and the form of the texts discussed.

Bất cứ một tác phẩm văn học nào cũng đều được sinh ra, được sáng tạo trong một không gian văn hóa nhất định. Do vậy việc giải mã tác phẩm văn học từ mã văn hóa là một hướng đi cho phép kết hợp các phương pháp liên ngành trong nghiên cứu và đem lại hiệu quả rõ rệt. Bằng việc khảo sát Người tình Sputnik ­- một tiểu thuyết đặc sắc của nhà văn Nhật Bản đương đại Haruki Murakami trên một phương diện của mã văn hóa, đó là biểu tượng và cổ mẫu, chúng tôi từng bước mở ra những lớp trầm tích của văn hóa Nhật Bản ẩn chứa đằng sau những con chữ và phương thức thể hiện mang vóc dáng của văn hóa đại chúng Mĩ với một đề tài khá độc đáo - đồng tính nữ.

This thesis paper tackles contemporary
themes such as alienation, dreams and self-actualization, and tries to paint a picture of the disillusioned artist in society. In the present capitalist-driven society, the “real” world, also known as the corporate world, is where people compete with each other to try to make ends meet.
The corporate world becomes the battleground for survival, where reaching the top of the corporate ladder is tantamount to success. Along with that, we, through different forms of media, are fed with images that serve as standards for beauty, sexuality, and success. Those who veer away from these standards and ideals are looked down upon. As a result, they isolate themselves and try to find their own niche somewhere else.
Majority of these deviant members of society are artists.
Non-conformists are propelled to seek escape from what reality offers them. In the film, dreams serve as a venue for escapism, allowing the dreamer, Vincent, to
be absorbed with the possibilities unachieved in the waking world. The quest for maximizing one’s potential, achieving success, peace of mind and happiness is a
common goal shared by every member of society. It is doubly arduous for the socially rejected, but never impossible.

以下の原稿はある文芸誌への寄稿を念頭に 2009 年にまず英語で書かれ、日本 語に訳出されたが、事情があり、掲載を見合わせられたものを今回、見直した上 末尾に新たな数行を加えて発表するものである。 筆者はすでに同趣旨の学会での口頭発表と他言語での論考発表を行っているが (後注参照) 、その原型的な考えがここに示されている。一言で言えば、この小論 で筆者は、村上春樹の作品に通底する女の語り(フィーメール・ナラティブ)の 系譜を取り出し、その意味するところを主にジェンダー学の見地から検討したう え、これまで見過ごされてきた観のある新しい村上文学の一側面に光をあてよう としている。 また、筆者は現在、村上の女性キャラクターに焦点を定めた著作を準備中で、 Palgrave Mcmillan 社より 2018 年に出版予定である。 Gitte M. Hansen ケンブリッジ大学 PhD / ニューキャッスル大学准教授。著書に、川上未映子や金原ひとみな どの文学作品から少女マンガ・アニメ、さらにシンガーソングライターの Cocco など広範な 表象を対象に独自のフェミニズム理論を駆使し、現代日本の新たな女性像を浮かび上がらせる Femininity, self-harm and eating disorders in Japan: Navigating contradiction in narrative and visual culture. Routledge: London and New York(2016)がある。 蓑輪星使・千葉芳敬 訳

The case of the vanishing elephantaged and dying, like Japan's traditional culturevanishes in a pragmatic and material society, too coherent and unitary to perceive the vanishing as a "strange" phenomenon. Modern Japan, heavily influenced by Western ideals of rationality, displaces what is strange, mysterious, and peculiar with what is known, scientific, and familiar. As illustrated in Murakami's fiction, residents of Tokyo suburb are presented with a baffling riddle: an old elephant vanishes along with its keeper without any trace left of their "disappearance".

This paper attempts to focus critically on the idea of parallel worlds in Haruki Murakami's novel 1Q84. Firstly, it reveals the connection between the present world and the parallel world represented as 1984 and 1Q84. Murakami showcases the shadow of the psyche and society in imagination. It engages in dialogues with other literary world and explores how it opens up new horizons and shapes in challenging reality. Then, it identifies the idea of explaining and resolving the concept of reality and dream of the parallel world in the novel. Further, it examines the inner emotional world and the outer emotional world of the characters along with their existence. In addition, it critically discusses the perspective of the characters that travel to the parallel world of 1Q84. Finally, it reflects on how the novelist depicts the characters that are touched by the subtle elements of reality and dream. It helps to preserve and recreate intense emotions from the past and understand the deepest inner workings of the characters and how the author can portray an astounding depiction with elusive phrasing, moving metaphors, and distinctive stories that can define what it is like to be in a parallel world.

This paper attempts to focus critically on the idea of parallel worlds in Haruki Murakami's novel 1Q84. Firstly, it reveals the connection between the present world and the parallel world represented as 1984 and 1Q84. Murakami showcases the shadow of the psyche and society in imagination. It engages in dialogues with other literary world and explores how it opens up new horizons and shapes in challenging reality. Then, it identifies the idea of explaining and resolving the concept of reality and dream of the parallel world in the novel. Further, it examines the inner emotional world and the outer emotional world of the characters along with their existence. In addition, it critically discusses the perspective of the characters that travel to the parallel world of 1Q84. Finally, it reflects on how the novelist depicts the characters that are touched by the subtle elements of reality and dream. It helps to preserve and recreate intense emotions from the past and understand the dee...

This paper provides a comparative analysis of Michael Cunningham’s The Snow Queen and Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. Both novels portray a contemporary society with supernatural events, which causes an estranging effect. This effect of the uncanny  will be discussed due to its presence throughout both novels, by using the theoretical concepts provided by An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle.

Thế giới nghệ thuật là kết tinh tư tưởng và sáng tạo của nhà văn, bởi vậy, nghiên cứu một tác phẩm hay hiện tượng văn học, điều quan trọng là đi vào khảo sát, phân tích, đối chiếu, so sánh để làm nổi bật những điểm chồi nghệ thuật - cái làm nên phong cách của nhà văn, từ đó lí giải cách nhìn hay quan niệm về con người, về cuộc đời của nhà văn. Bằng việc tìm hiểu thế giới nghệ thuật tiểu thuyết của Haruki Murakami trong tiểu thuyết Biên niên ký chim vặn dây cót, qua hai phương diện: không gian nghệ thuật và việc sử dụng thủ pháp dòng ý thức, chúng tôi chỉ ra cái đặc sắc mang tính nội tại trong thế giới nghệ thuật của nhà văn, từ đó góp thêm một tiếng nói khẳng định cho tài năng của nhà văn đương đại đang có sức ảnh hưởng mạnh mẽ trong văn đàn Nhật Bản cũng như văn đàn thế giới này.

Análise literária da obra “Kafka à beira-mar”, do premiado escritor japonês Haruki Murakami. Através de uma leitura mais aprofundada, é possível a observação de questões que não poderiam ser notadas em uma primeira leitura. Características do autor, especificidades da composição, questões culturais e amostras de intertextualidade são esmiuçadas durante esse processo de interpretação.
“Kafka à beira-mar” é uma viagem através do tempo e da História, com passagem por situações fantásticas e paradas obrigatórias no campo da psiquiatria.

​This paper attempts to study space and time relations in Haruki Murakami's novel "Kafka on the shore" (Umibe no Kafuka). Once such a brief study is unable to deeply encompass the possibilities of analyzing this relation, the focus of this paper is to comment the elements in the painting that the young protagonist Kafka Tamura finds in the Komura library, where he starts working. This painting is presented as being one of the keys to decipher the " labyrinth of time " in which Kafka Tamura is stuck along with Satoru Nakata, an old man who talks to cats. Despite the fact that these two never meet, they are both compelled to find the " edge of the world " (sekai no fuchi). As for theoretical foundation, the widely known Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of chronotope and Shuichi Kato's studies on time and space in Japanese culture were chosen for the purpose of this study.

In this paper, I extend Malonfalean’s close reading by focusing on how Boku and Watashi struggle against the entropy around them brought about by hyper-reality. I highlight this struggle in two ways, both of which will explain how Boku and Watashi succeed in their struggles by becoming “asymptotically immortal.” The first way is by focusing on their experiences in the third space described by Malonfalean, with emphasis on the role of memories in preserving fragments of the self. The second way is by focusing on Murakami’s narrative structure of the novel, namely, the juxtaposition of the plot of Hard-boiled Wonderland with the plot of End of the World.  Here, I argue that the novel is a postmodern rendition of the Japanese monogatari (tale), a traditional literary form in Japanese literature that was born from the quiet struggles of the lower social classes in Heian-period society.

This is to certify that the project work titled Magical Realism: A Study of Murakami's Kafka on the Shore is a record of research work carried out by Mr. S.PRAVEEN KUMAR (18PGE29) in the Research Department of English, The American College, Madurai, under my guidance and supervision.

A diferencia de los grandes nombres de la posguerra japonesa, que como Kenzaburō Oe se empeñaban en redefinir Japón tras el durísimo trauma histórico que supuso el año 1945, Murakami pertenece a una generación que ya no tiene en tan alta estima los sólidos fundamentos filosóficos y culturales de los que bebieron los autores anteriores, y desde sus comienzos literarios escribe para un público nacido varios años después (incluso décadas) del fin del conflicto bélico. [...] Su obra intuye los grandes poderes fácticos que, aparentemente de forma inescrutable o mágica, mueven los hilos del mundo sin que ninguno de los ciudadanos comunes pueda barruntar siquiera dónde se anclan esas poderosas cuerdas de la política y la economía. Si hay una realidad mágica en los mundos de Murakami, ésta parece adivinarse a partir de la alienante extrañeza de los sucesos históricos cotidianos, cuya lógica parece perderse en esferas incognoscibles, tanto epistémica como políticamente. El pastiche murakamiano habla de una religión y de una fe contemporáneas en el poder de la imagen, en las marcas, en la bolsa de valores y, en ocasiones, en un atisbo de espiritualidad ingenua que sus personajes suelen manifestar. En este interesante ensayo, el autor condensa las claves ficcionales de varias obras de Murakami a la luz de la física cuántica, explicando de qué manera los principios científicos de esta disciplina se pueden aplicar al análisis de narrativas contemporáneas en un intento de ampliar las lógicas de la verosimilitud y las fronteras del género fantástico. Asimismo, recoge las semejanzas entre el pensamiento tradicional oriental y las interpretaciones contemporáneas de la física cuántica en virtud de la confluencia de ambos sistemas en la literatura de Haruki Murakami.

This paper aims at finding out the existential crisis and alienation of human beings in the modern world through a study of Haruki Murakami"s short story "Men Without Women". Philosophy of Existentialism and Alienation from Heidegger and Sartre have been used by the researcher to analyze the narrative of Murakami"s "Men Without Women". Following the qualitative approach of research, the analysis is done through the discussion of the Existentialism theories and in-depth analysis of written or printed information related to the research topic. This research focuses on three essential components of human being"s alienation; alienation from self, alienation from fellow human beings and alienation from social institutions.