Decision Time
- Ellen Hutchinson
- Mar 21, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 17, 2023
The time has come! My mind is made up and the subject of my dissertation is...
Haruki Murakami.
I think my previous blog posts probably gave this away but I am making it official.
For a little background/context, I took a beginners Japanese class in the first year of my undergraduate degree. I absolutely loved it and had wanted to pursue Japanese as part of that degree. A degree in English and Japanese was the dream but, alas, it could not become a reality. Nevertheless, I maintained an interest in Japanese language and culture. As one of Japan's most widely acclaimed authors I gravitated towards Murakami when looking for reading material. In the the spirit of writing a dissertation motivated by feelings of loathing, I've decided to use Murakami's work as my focus. Seeing as I had such a visceral response while reading some of his novels.
I had read Norwegian Wood a number of years ago and decided to revisit it recently while contemplating dissertation ideas. I forgot how much I disliked the book. There is a neuronal circuit in the brain that has the ability to purge bad memories and it seems that circuit was working overtime to rid my mind of all the resentment I had for this book (Stetka). Murakami has this incredible writing style where he will lull you into a state of ease, almost enjoyment, and then create a statement so painful to read it feels like an assault on all the senses. I think I've developed premature wrinkles from wincing and frowning so much while reading his work. Murakami has a strange obsession with breasts, a fixation on them as if they are the determining characteristic of every female character (click the button at the bottom of the page for a link to a post on this topic). Is a woman even a woman if her breasts are not acknowledged and commented upon? Sometimes in the most unsettling of ways. For example, "she had the breasts of a little girl" (p.383). This is how I felt trying to finish the book.
I should go through the book and count up how many times "breasts" or breast related terminology is brought up but it seems like unnecessary suffering. I deserve to spare myself on that front. I turned to Goodreads to see if other readers shared my opinions. The book has an overall rating of 4.02 stars with the majority of readers awarding the book 4 or 5 stars. I was stunned when I saw the stats. Honestly, I think I need a gender break down of the reviews. When I see women awarding the book high marks I'm baffled. Are we reading the same text? Opinions differ of course so I won't criminalise anyone for their taste but I was certainly surprised.
Murakami currently has 14 novels published (with his 15th novel due to be released sometime this year). The titles are;
"Wow, that's a lot of books" - I hear you say. Yes, yes, it is! Murakami's consistency in his writing is almost admirable if this consistency didn't apply to the awful characterisation of female characters across his body of work. The above list doesn't include his short story collections; however, I don't see myself focusing on them for my dissertation. I've read a couple other works by Murakami but now my challenge is to get through as many of his books as I can and also perform a close reading of each text. I have my highlighter at the ready and I am eager to start the dissection process. All of this work is in preparation for April 3rd when we are due to deliver our dissertation presentations. So, there's lots to look forward to!
Click below for my related blog post - "Murakami On Women (And Their Breasts)
Works Cited
Murakami, Haruki. Norwegian Wood. Vintage, 2003.
Stetka, Bret. “How the Brain Purges Bad Memories.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 31 July 2015, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-purges-bad-memories/.
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