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Japanese Writing After Murakami (the-tls.co.uk)
Roland Kelts, writing for The Times Literary Supplement: At fifty-one, Hideo Furukawa is among the generation of Japanese writers I'll call "A. M.," for "After Murakami." Haruki Murakami is Japan's most internationally renowned living author. His work has been translated into over fifty languages, his books sell in the millions, and there is annual speculation about his winning the Nobel Prize. Over four decades, he has become one of the most famous living Japanese people on the planet. It's impossible to overestimate the depth of his influence on contemporary Japanese literature and culture, but it is possible to characterize it.
The American poet Louise Gluck once said that younger writers couldn't appreciate the shadow cast over her generation by T. S. Eliot. Murakami in Japan is something like that. Yet unlike Eliot in English-speaking nations, Murakami in Japan has been a liberator, casting rays of light instead of a pall, breathing gusts of fresh air into Japan's literary landscape. Now on the verge of seventy, he generates little of Harold Bloom's "anxiety of influence" among his younger peers. For them he has opened three key doors: to licentious play with the Japanese language; to the binary worlds of life in today's Japanese culture, a hybrid of East and West; and to a mode of personal behaviour -- cool, disciplined, solitary -- in stark contrast to the cliques and clubs of Japan's past literati.
Japan's current literary and cultural scene takes in "light novels," brisk narratives that lean heavily on sentimentality and romance and often feature visuals drawn from manga-style aesthetics, and dystopian post-apocalyptic stories of intimate violence, such as Natsuo Kirino's suspense thrillers, Out and Grotesque. Post-Fukushima narratives in film and fiction explore a Japan whose tightly managed surfaces disfigure the animal spirits of its citizens; and many of the strongest voices and characters in this recent trend have been female.
The American poet Louise Gluck once said that younger writers couldn't appreciate the shadow cast over her generation by T. S. Eliot. Murakami in Japan is something like that. Yet unlike Eliot in English-speaking nations, Murakami in Japan has been a liberator, casting rays of light instead of a pall, breathing gusts of fresh air into Japan's literary landscape. Now on the verge of seventy, he generates little of Harold Bloom's "anxiety of influence" among his younger peers. For them he has opened three key doors: to licentious play with the Japanese language; to the binary worlds of life in today's Japanese culture, a hybrid of East and West; and to a mode of personal behaviour -- cool, disciplined, solitary -- in stark contrast to the cliques and clubs of Japan's past literati.
Japan's current literary and cultural scene takes in "light novels," brisk narratives that lean heavily on sentimentality and romance and often feature visuals drawn from manga-style aesthetics, and dystopian post-apocalyptic stories of intimate violence, such as Natsuo Kirino's suspense thrillers, Out and Grotesque. Post-Fukushima narratives in film and fiction explore a Japan whose tightly managed surfaces disfigure the animal spirits of its citizens; and many of the strongest voices and characters in this recent trend have been female.
I agree. This has nothing to do with technology or science. It doesn't belong on Slashdot. And I have a degree in Writing!
Awww. We'll all shed crocodile tears for you snowflake.
I particularly liked his "Voices from the Hellmouth" series. I haven't read his "post Fukushima" narratives but I am sure they are equally as good.
Except topics like this have been posted to Slashdot for nearly 2 decades. Get over yourself.
What does this have to do with nerd news?
The Hentai versions of Murakami's works are definitely "Nudes for Nerds" . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
What does this have to do with nerd news?
Science fiction often inspires technical trends, and many of Murakami's books are in SF areas. Therefore it is reasonably relevant on Slashdot.
Having said that, and having read quite a bit of Japanese literature (mostly in translation), I'm not sure I would credit Murakami with being that influential. Admired and respected, yes, but I'm not seeing that many similarities between what he does and what the other authors write. The I novels are largely unchanged from Soseki's day, even though the backgrounds are modern.
Then again, I've only read one book by Kirino... But maybe there was some confusion with the OTHER Murakami (Ryu). Definitely seems to me to be more influential in that style. The more famous Murakami (Haruki) tends to remind me of Lewis Carroll in many places.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
I am surprised that the mention of a respected male author using strong female characters to tell his stories has triggered your anti-SJW impulses. You should be too.
Strong women neither break your leg nor pick your pocket. Watch a Russ Meyer film and relax.*
That said, I assumed Murakami was a text input method when I read the headline.
*Trigger warning: women depicted may do much worse than break legs and pick pockets.
Thanks for answering the OP. I had no idea who Murakami was (is?) so I too was trying to figure out why this was on Slashdot. Any particular works / translations of his you recommend?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
Yes, /. just posted a story about giant-size DC comic books. Now that's "news for nerds"! Got to keep out priorities straight.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
1Q84 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (ichi kyu <- 'Q' hachi yon)
Kafka on the Shore - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
One thing that fascinates me about Murakami is that his books are so heavy, and yet in interviews he comes across as a normal guy who goes along with the flow, without any mental or emotional problems at all.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Even if "millions" of his books have been sold, that means there are billions of people who have never bought one of his books.
Specifically, even in Japan, the vast majority of people have not read Murakami.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
In one interview, Murakami mentions that once he was asked to write some book reviews for a literary magazine. He didn't want to do it, but finally he agreed (because he owed a favor to the editor). He was able to choose the book, so he ended up writing a book review about a book he completely made up, by an author who didn't exist.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
His books are heavily influenced by Kafka, which is a problem because Kafka isn't very good. It got so bad, that I re-wrote the end of Metamorphosis for fun. Wasn't hard to make it better.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
but article is about the "after Murakami" world ....so....???
And it was the worst book (well, set of 3) I've ever finished. Starts of well, but he has no idea where to go with it and it dribbles out in a pile of wasted ideas and characters that go nowhere. Classic example of a mainstream writer thinking that fantasy must be easy because there's no rules and then demonstrating that it isn't and there are.
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
I've both watched movies and read books featuring strong female characters, and enjoyed reading/watching them. What annoys me is the recent "in-your-face", "you HAVE to acknowledge this!" trend.
A good book or movie doesn't need to yell "IT HAZ STRONG FEMALES", it just works. To me, whether the main character is male, female, child, white, black, homosexual, genderfluid or any combination of the above. When there's emphasis on such traits or however you want to call it, I react.
I read a good book recently, "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman, where at some point he is part of a whole universe of exclusively homosexual people. It was an interesting plot but it flowed tightly with the main storyline, without it being pushed in my face. And the book was written in 1974 - so there you have it, no need to yell "it haz homosexuals!" because the book is good regardless. Let the reader determine what is what.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
So your argument is that spam is as sturdy and pervasive as cockroaches?
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
>I'm not sure I would credit Murakami with being that influential.
Kobo Abe, Kendzaburo Oe were before and more influential. Murakami came after that to my life in the form of sarcastic mentions of superficial _intelligentsia_ addicted to his writings.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
>He was able to choose the book, so he ended up writing a book review about a book he completely made up, by an author who didn't exist.
How original /sarcasm.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Who else has done it?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
TSIA. Look, I come to /. for TECH related news. I don't want a general news aggregator, there's already far too much heat to light here already.
On a side note, only a poet could make a statement so sweepingly & simultaneously narcissistic and oblivious as "The American poet Louise Gluck once said that younger writers couldn't appreciate the shadow cast over her generation by T. S. Eliot."
-Styopa
Ishiguro is really a British writer of Japanese origin. Yes he was born in Japan but lived in the UK since he was 5 and had his education in the UK as well. He writes in English.
That title is held by Hayao Miyazaki.
#DeleteFacebook
Man, I'd say Wind-Up Bird and Hard-Boiled Wonderland are his best. Start there
Borges tended to continually allude to works that didn't exist. Some of his stories were very explicit in this way
I am part of such a minority, and that's exactly why I am against positive discrimination.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Stanislaw Lem as well. I liked his critical reviews of made up books more then Borges', for obvious reasons.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
There was also Kilgore Trout.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.