Murakami: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - Invitation to view

[Mark Kohut]

You know, I can see that response to The Wind- Up Bird Chronicle actually. Why I did not have it is because I had read others of his, chronological immersion so spaghetti, jazz, characters seemed more an organic part of him perhaps. 

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 9, 2015, at 9:27 PM, <kelber at mindspring.com> <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/?list=pynchon-l