Hello Gentle Reader,
Japanese literature is a powerhouse, producing some exceptional talents and titans, which includes: Sōseki Natsume, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Dazai Osamu, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, Abe Kōbō, Ōe Kenzaburō, Tsushima Yūko. All of which inevitably paved the way for other contemporary writers to find new readerships in translation. Though many of these new and contemporary writers, were entrenched and steeped in a globalised cultural environment, whereby the distinct ‘Japanese,’ identity or elements (at least in a traditional sense) had been stripped away. The hybridity and blending of traditional cultural nuance, style and elements of their literary forefathers (Sōseki, Akutagawa, Dazai, Tanizaki, Kawabata and Mishima) had been replaced by narratives that existed in a state of rootlessness or cultural anonymity. Nowhere is this more distinctly seen then with Murakami Haruki, whose detached alienated everyday men with their penchant for pasta and jazz find themselves stranded in a world of absurd and fantastical happenings, complete with disappearing cats and parrel realities. Subsequent writers have continued with the offbeat narrative (Murata Sayaka) while turning their attentions to more social-minded critiques (Kawakami Mieko). The other Murakami – Murakami Ryū – had been far darker, transgressive and edgier from the start. To quote one critic: “If Haruki is the Beatles of Japanese literature, then Ryū is the Rolling Stones.”
Murakami Ryū’s work subverted the image of Japanese society as being clean and orderly. Beneath the homogenous conformity, lied a world of depravity and suppressed inclinations, fetishes and outlets catering to the facilitation and release of these endeavors. In the famous novel “Almost Transparent Blue,” Murakami writes a plotless novel chartering ‘Ryū,’ and a group of young adults in the mid-70’s, whose lives revolve around the triptych of the times: sex, drugs and rock’n roll. The novels imagistic driven debauchery danced on the precipice of nihilism. “Almost Transparent Blue,” would go on to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize and was later made into a film scripted and directed by the author. Subsequent novels such as “Coin Locker Babies,” “Piercing,” “Audition,” and “In the Miso Soup,” continued their pathological inquiry into the darker elements of contemporary Japanese society, often employing visceral imagery and violent actions to contrast against the neat and orderly image projected to the world. Murakami’s is recognized for charting the urban disillusionment and nihilism of the postwar youth, before evolving into a critical surveyor of Japanese and American consumerist society, placating and pacifying people with commodities. Japanese literature required the blunt and transgressive knives edge that Murakami Ryū brought. It dispelled the magical realism of Haruki, cutting to the heart and bone of the matter. This otherwise edgier and angrier writing proved to be a counterweight and balance, to Murakami Haruki’s otherwise detached dreamscapes. Though the comparison between the two is an unfair point. The two writers despite their namesake, both approached writing for different angles and with different purposes, achieving different results. Though, in this instance, the death of Murakami Ryū is a significant loss to Japanese literature.
Rest in Peace Murakami Ryū
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
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