Akins, Midori Tanaka (2012) Time and space reconsidered: the literary landscape of Murakami Haruki. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/15631 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Time and Space Reconsidered: The Literary Landscape of Murakami Haruki Midori Tanaka Atkins Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in Japanese Literature 2012 Department of Languages & Cultures School of Oriental and African Studies University of London Declaration for PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________ 2 Abstract This thesis examines the literary landscape of the Japanese writer Murakami Haruki (b. 1949), as shaped by the author’s depiction of time and space and his application of language. Incorporating what can be described as post-national cosmopolitanism, the thesis highlights the transformation of notions of individual and communal identity in the context of Murakami’s own cosmopolitanism by using two perspectives: ‘The world of Murakami’, in which a new type of literary landscape is created, and ‘Murakami in the world’, in which Murakami might be described as a cultural provocateur through his literature. For ‘the world of Murakami’, the thesis conducts a narrative analysis, focusing on Murakami’s language, construction of space and treatment of time and history in narratives of his protagonists’ search for identity. For ‘Murakami in the world’, the thesis approaches the subject of social criticism of cultural politics firstly through the author’s position as a new type of Japanese writer within the discourse of world literature and secondly via a survey of writings by three Japanese critics on Murakami’s novels which analyzes their cultural politics versus Murakami’s zeitgeist writings. The thesis concludes that identity formation and the negotiation of the mind between “I” and Others in Murakami’s literature reflects the author’s cosmopolitan sense of belonging. Murakami’s language renders a transnational mood and depicts his protagonists’ ambivalent emotional distance from and proximity to others. Murakami’s depiction of space and time, on the other hand, portrays the author’s own imagined space as well as Japanese cultural and communal history. His literary landscape, thus, explores a social consciousness that is located in a new sense of self, underscoring a tension between modernity and post-modernity both in contemporary Japan and on the global stage that can be described as neo-modern. 3 Contents Declaration for PhD thesis ...................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 5 A Note on the Text .................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 7 The World of Murakami One: Language of Distance and Proximity ..................................................................... 28 Two: Murakami Haruki and his Landscape: Satellitic, Voyeuristic and Subconscious . 69 Three: Time and Memory .............................................................................................. 127 Murakami in the World Four: World Literature and Murakami: A Writer Who Sits Outside ............................ 180 Five: Cultural Politics and Murakami Haruki: The Critics' Murakami ......................... 238 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 295 Appendix Appendix A: Chart Showing the Country and Authors that Japan's First Collection of World Literature, Sekaibungaku zenshū, Included ........................................................ 302 Appendix B: Chart Showing Authors, Titles, Publishers, and Dates of All Japanese Works of Criticism Published after the Publication of 1Q84 ........................................ 303 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 305 4 Acknowledgements During the course of my research and writing of this thesis, I enjoyed a stream of advice, guidance, encouragement, and support from many generous people. I am deeply indebted to many friends and teachers, all of whose names I cannot mention here. My particular thanks go to Dr. Stephen Dodd who was ever patient, generous with his thoughtful guidance and enthusiasm. Prof. Norihiro Katō and the late Prof. Satoko Kan’s kind words of encouragement remained in my heart until the last word of this thesis. I am grateful for the many hours of discussions with Dr. Wen-chin Ouyang whose invaluable support, encouragement and friendship guided me to the completion of this thesis. I owe special thanks to Mary Anketell, Glada Lahn and Eric Schneider for their proofreading, editing, and insightful comments. I have been blessed and encouraged by the critical curiosity of Ben and Cecilia Atkins who took interest in Murakami and Japanese literature at their young age. Last but not least, I thank William Atkins who has been my biggest, consistent supporter. 5 A Note on the Text In this thesis, I included Japanese at only when I consider it necessary as an aid to comprehension. I attempted to adhere as closely as possible to the original Japanese texts in my quotations. In the footnotes to each chapter, Murakami Haruki zen-sakuhin is abbreviated to MH ZSH. 6 Introduction The contemporary Japanese writer Murakami Haruki (b. 1949) has established himself as a best-selling, transnational novelist, short story writer, translator and essayist. Murakami’s novels have been translated into more than forty languages and have reached the far corners of the globe. His writings have prompted much discussion among readers on a wide range of subjects. During the course of Murakami’s thirty years of prolific writing, Japanese critics have adeptly responded to Murakami. Many have criticized the lack of social consciousness in his novels. Kaze no uta o kike (Hear the Wind Sing, 1979), which won the Gunzō Shinjin Bungaku-shō (The Gunzō New Writer’s Literary Award) in 1979, for example, prompted polarised reactions from prominent critics. Yoshimoto Takaaki (1924-2012) and Maruyama Sai’ichi (b. 1925) praised and supported Murakami’s works1, while Ōe Kenzaburō (b. 1935), after receiving the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, felt compelled to voice his disapproval of the materialistic and non- committal messages he found in Murakami’s stories.2 Other critics, however, note an increase in the level of his protagonists’ social consciousness in Murakami’s novels written after 1995, describing this using the term ‘from detachment to commitment’.3 This identification relates to the sense of historicity found in Murakami’s later works, such as Nejimakidori kuronikuru (The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, 1995) and a collection of short stories entitled Kami no kodomotachi wa mina 1 Maruya Sai’ichi, ‘Atarashii shōsetsu no eikyō, ‘Kaze no uta o kike’ hyō,’ from the 22nd Gunzō shinjinshō in Gunzō Nihon no sakka Murakami Haruki 2 Ōe Kenzaburō, Aimaina Nihon no watashi; Numano Mitsuyoshi ‘Murakami Haruki wa sekai no ‘ima’ ni tachimukau – ‘Nejimakidori kuronikuru’ o yomitoku’ in Kuritsubo Yoshiki and Tsuge Teruhiko (eds.), Murakami Haruki sutadīzu 04 3 Kuronuma Katsushi, ‘‘Detatchimento’ kara ‘komittomento’ e’ in Kuritsubo Yoshiki and Tsuge Teruhiko (eds.), Murakami Haruki sutadīzu 04 7 odoru (After the Quake, 2002), and it has been the subject of a number of studies, many of them focusing on the theme of the romantic irony and the uncommitted or committed attitude of his protagonists and linking them to Japan’s aggression in China from the 1930s, the student strife from the 1960s and 1970s, and the 1995 Sarin Gas Attack on the Tokyo subway system and the Great Hanshin Earthquake of the same year.4 Ōe later praised Murakami for his commitment to incorporating social issues faced by Japan in his writings.5 The subject of geography in Murakami’s novels, urban space as well as ‘other world/other