Murakami, the egg, & OWS -

[Joe Allonby]

Interesting metaphor because the wall is not an actor in the situation. The
wall just stands there being a wall, indifferent to the egg thrown against
it. How is it that the egg is thrown against the wall? Does it throw
itself? What of the artists who continually batter themselves against the
indifferent walls of commercialism? The activist taking to the street to be
crushed by an indifferent government?  Ordinary citizens propelled by
societal forces headlong into immovable barriers insensitive to their
destruction? The egg, if not a voluntary actor, is at least potentially
alive. It's organic. The wall isn't evil. It's not acting on the egg. It's
just a wall. I want a word with the egg thrower.


On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 11:32 AM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Haruki Murkami'a acceptance speech for the  Jerusalem Prize (thematic -
> not a particular book) in 1999:
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/always-on-the-side-of-the-egg-1.270371
>
> ** a snip**
> Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it,  I will
> always stand on the side of the egg.
>
> Yes, no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will
> stand with the egg. Someone else will have to decide what is right and what
> is wrong; perhaps time or history will decide. If there were a novelist
> who, for whatever reason, wrote works standing with the wall, of what value
> would such works be?
>
> What is the meaning of this metaphor? In some cases, it is all too simple
> and clear. Bombers and tanks and rockets and white phosphorus shells are
> that high, solid wall. The eggs are the unarmed civilians who are crushed
> and burned and shot by them. This is one meaning of the metaphor.
>
> This is not all, though. It carries a deeper meaning. Think of it this
> way. Each of us is, more or less, an egg. Each of us is a unique,
> irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell. This is true of me, and it
> is true of each of you. And each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, is
> confronting a high, solid wall. The wall has a name: It is The System. The
> System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it takes on a life of its
> own, and then it begins to kill us and cause us to kill others - coldly,
> efficiently, systematically.
>
> **
> There are lots of folks interested in Murkami right now - Wild Sheep Chase
> is pretty political as is Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - both are fiercely
> anti-war, anti-imperialism, anti-big government and pro-small quiet person.
>    I'm not sure how  1Q84 fits yet except that it seems like a further
> exploration of those themes - very anti-System in many aspects - maybe
> anti-"religion" this time, too - any cults, really.
>
> Bekah
>
>
> On Dec 4, 2011, at 6:45 PM, Joseph Tracy wrote:
>
> > Hey Mark, Still have not read IQ 84, though about to order it .
>  Wondered if you read NYRB review by Charles Baxter and if so, what you
> thought?
>
>
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