Murakami: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - Invitation to view

[John Bailey]

Agree his metaphysics are quite bound up with Japanese culture... lots
of stuff about energy flows and blockages and the contiguity of
external and internal worlds that reads as pretty naff to Western
eyes.

Some of his literary tricks are completely untranslatable, too. Most
of his work plays on the long Japanese tradition of the I-Novel which
is a first-person, naturalistic confessional; Murakami degrades the
form by employing informal grammar (eg his I is the subjective,
solipsistic 'boku' instead of the usual respectful 'watashi') and
switching into a cold, academic grammar when things get more abstract.

On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 10:35 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> It wasn't enough for me.  His main character is usually in crisis and
> depression, and on a quest, which is always a good start.  Lots of teasing
> ensues with little depth, and thus shallow resolution, IMHO.
>
> David Morris
>
>
> On Friday, October 9, 2015, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> His empathy on paper, empathy as a deep theme.....is worthy and unusual.
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 7:01 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> My main problem is the tangential throwaway metaphysics. They are either
>> silly and shallow or lead nowhere.  I've wondered if maybe it's due to my
>> lack of Japanese cultural background.  If so, his archetypes are extremely
>> parochial.  And the stories without them aren't compelling.
>>
>> David
>>
>> On Friday, October 9, 2015, David Kilroy <thesaintgodard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> My main argument against the Chronicle is the cast.  I find them all very
>>> difficult to engage with, unlike most other Murakmi I've read.  I realize
>>> this is more to do with the culture, set & setting, than anything else.  I
>>> exist in a culture actively estranging itself so a story about coming to
>>> terms with alienation has to have some emotional texture, some rock in the
>>> stream with an irregular surface for me to cling to.
>>>
>>> Contrariwise, my favorite character in WUBC-- that is, the most clearly
>>> embedded in my memory --is Noboru Wataya.  It's his cipherlike nature as an
>>> antagonist.  He's a cloudy diamond, of the same water as Brock Vond or
>>> Windust.  Could be I'm just a sucker for ambivalent villainy.  Could be
>>> that's why I haven't absquatulated from Amerika already...
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l