Murakami: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - Invitation to view

[Mark Thibodeau]

My dismissal of M. stems purely from what I take to be his misread of P. I
haven't read his fiction, only his criticism. That's enough for me to
dismiss him as a Flavor of the Month, especially considering the size (and
quality) of my current TO READ pile.

St. Jerky of Dismissal

On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 10:12 PM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm currently reading a book by the other Murakami - Ryu Murakami -
> called Popular Hits of the Showa Era and it's a laugh-out-loud comedy
> as black as they come. It concerns a war between a group of deadbeat
> 20-something boys and a gang of equally useless 30-something
> divorcees. Starts out with sashimi knives duct-taped to mops, but the
> ladies have just gotten their hands on a rocket launcher.
>
> "A strange old tale had recently been revived in popular novels and
> films about a man who in accordance with the rules of the social group
> in which he lives must leave his aged mother to die on a desolate
> mountaintop. It was a story that would surely have caused any
> self-respecting immigrant or refugee or descendant of slaves to gag in
> disgust, but it was the stuff of Yano's deepest aspirations. If only
> he could be given a chance to abandon something of tremendous
> importance to him - to dump it as if it were no longer needed in his
> life! He often reflected that if he were a woman, all he'd have to do
> was get pregnant, give birth to the baby, and abandon it; and it had
> even occurred to him that if he dressed up in drag and left a Cabbage
> Patch Kid somewhere he might be able to experience a similar sort of
> sensation, though he was restrained by the fear that if he went that
> far he might never find his way back."
>
> On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 12:27 PM,  <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
> > I've only read The Windup Bird Chronicle, which seemed to me
> self-consciously cute - almost as if it had been written for the (then)
> futuristic Brooklyn Williamsburg hipsters - spaghetti/jazz/quirky
> characters, etc. I should track that short story down, Mark, but other than
> that, have no interest in reading more.
> >
> > Laura
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >>From: John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
> >>Sent: Oct 9, 2015 7:40 PM
> >>To: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> >>Cc: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>, David Kilroy <
> thesaintgodard at gmail.com>, Leandro Poblet <leandrodrhouse at gmail.com>,
> pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >>Subject: Re: Murakami: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - Invitation to view
> >>
> >>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...
> >>-
> >>Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
> >
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
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