The Literature Book

319

See also: Playing for Thrills 336

F

rom the late 20th century,

globalization—in particular

the spread of American

popular culture around the world—

has created a forum in which

writers have been able to free their

fiction of localized traditions, as if

writing for a universal readership.

American influences are

particularly evident in Japanese

culture—stemming, in part, from the

US occupation of Japan (1945–52).

Japanese author Haruki Murakami

(1949–) has a cultural background

that seems half American: he

translated F. Scott Fitzgerald and

Truman Capote into Japanese, and

ran a jazz club in Tokyo.

East meets West

Murakami’s novel The Wind-Up

Bird Chronicle calls on American

influences, as well as cultural

motifs from Europe. For example,

it begins with its hero, Toru Okada,

listening to Rossini while cooking

pasta; later in the novel, a baseball

bat is used as a weapon. The book

itself is a complex quest narrative

with its roots in Western culture.

As Orpheus visits the underworld

to bring back Eurydice in Greek

myth, so Okada descends into a

well to recover his wife Kumiko

after she disappears.

Yet this is still a Japanese story

at its core. Murakami evokes the

alienation of modern urban Japan,

while at the same time probing

Japanese history. For instance,

Lieutenant Mamiya’s tales of

wartime exploits in Manchuria

and a Soviet prison camp address

Japan’s violent war record. ■

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

WHAT WE SEE BEFORE US

IS JUST ONE TINY PART

OF THE WORLD

THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE (1994–1995),

HARUKI MURAKAMI

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Writing for the world

BEFORE

1987 The hero in Murakami’s

Norwegian Wood, a tale of love,

loss, and friendship, is a former

college student interested in

American literature.

1988 Banana Yashimoto’s

Kitchen tells a wistful story of

a young Japanese woman, for

whom the consumer opulence

of Western-style cooking

provides an emotional refuge.

AFTER

1997 Ryu Murakami’s In the

Miso Soup is a crime story set

among the hostess bars of

Tokyo, with conversational

references to real-life

Americans such as Whitney

Houston and Robert de Niro.

2002 Kafka on the Shore

shows Murakami exploring

metaphysical fantasy—in a

Japan where Westernized

culture and Shintoism meet.

Is it possible ... for one human

being to achieve perfect

understanding of another?

The Wind-Up Bird

Chronicle

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