Murukami

[Mark Kohut]

I think the best place to start reading Murakami--or to prepare for the new
one (with some new themes, it seems) ---is his collected stories, "Blind Willow,
Sleeping Woman"...reading them one or a few at a time and thinking/feeling them
until 1Q84 is pubbed....
 
Just a half-humble opinion. 

From: John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
To: Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com>
Cc: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>; pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 7:41 PM
Subject: Re: Murukami

I'm a big fan but Murakami and Pynchon have very little in common -
although M is interested in revisiting the unacknowledged horrors of
his country's past, which might be a vague link.

I think his popularity in the west sort of overshadows what makes him
distinct in Japanese literature (and society) as what's sometimes
celebrated as unusual in his work is often quite traditional in his
country (eg writing a novel in which not one character is named), and
the more transgressive elements of his style are pretty familiar in
English.

Personally I enjoy the way he writes spaces and objects; they're often
indistinguishable from the psyche of those observing. Climbing down a
well or even walking along a corridor always involves a subconscious
journey as well, and the most material of everyday items have a
talismanic quality that's very Lynchian. The fantastic stuff rises
from a collective unconscious too, but I think a lot of it is probably
lost in the cross-cultural translation.

I'd guess that the outrageous levels of ambivalence and equivocation
in his writing is exactly what makes people love or detest him.

And yeah, he is obsessed with cats. He ran a jazz bar named after his
own feline.

On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 8:54 AM, Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm game.
>
> I'm a fan of Murakami. I liked "Kafka on the Shore" more than "Wind-Up
> BIrd".  The similarity to Pynchon that I see is that I like Pynchon
> and I like Murakami. That's about it. TRP's talking dog is a gag in
> one novel. Haruki seems obsessed with cats, particularly talking ones.
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>>  Trying again. Is there a plan for group read  of IQ 84?
>>
>
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