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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 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.
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Yes, /. just posted a story about giant-size DC comic books. Now that's "news for nerds"! Got to keep out priorities straight.
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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."
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"
That title is held by Hayao Miyazaki.
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