Literature Review

My thesis does not currently have a title, but it will focus on the representation of women in the novels of Haruki Murakami. I want to conduct a feminist literary analysis of Murakami’s work specifically looking at the sexualisation and objectification of women in his writing. I want to connect the portrayals of female characters across his texts and highlight the often negative similarities in his characterisation of women. Murakami’s poor characterisation of his female characters is consistent, and I want to examine why this is. HIs novels are set in Japan and typically follow a male protagonist who is sad and lonely. I plan to examine female representation in relation to the male gaze and also wider cultural context of his work.

Obviously, my first reading has been of my primary texts which are Murakami’s novels. Currently, of his 14 published fiction novels, I have narrowed down the group but have not definitively selected the novels I will be working on. I am certain I want to study Norwegian Wood as one of my dissertation texts but, beyond that, I am still deciding on which novels to examine. I have read his short story collections also, of which there are five, and have ruled them out of my consideration bar one story from The Elephant Vanishes titled Sleep. This story is under consideration for comparative purposes as the female character is an improvement on Murakami’s typical portrayal of women. To get a deeper understanding of the cultural framework I’m working within I’ll be drawing on Vera Mackie’s Feminism in Modern Japan. With the same intent, I will be drawing briefly on Gill Steel’s Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan, specifically the introductory chapter. Gaining a deeper understanding of Japan’s overall opinion on and perception of feminism and women better frames my criticism of Murakami’s work.

From a critical and methodological perspective, I am currently drawing on Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and using her theory of woman as other in my analysis of Murakami’s novels. I am also using Laura Mulvey’s text Visual and Other Pleasures, specifically chapter three of the book titled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema where she establishes the theory of the male gaze. This is an area that needs further research. I understand that these theories all come from a Western perspective and while I am searching for Japanese feminist theories to implement, I have not come across anything suitable yet. While books such as Voices from the Japanese Women's Movement, Sandra Buckley’s Broken Silence: Voices of Japanese Feminism and Ayako Kano’s Japanese Feminist Debates: A Century of Contention on Sex, Love, and Labor have given me a better insight into feminism in Japan, they haven't included specific Japanese feminist theories that I need.

For comparative purposes, I had looked at novels from female contemporary Japanese writers. For example Mieko Kawakami, is an author that Murakami respects and she has also discussed with him and criticised his portrayal of women. I recently read Breasts and Eggs, which is one of her most widely acclaimed and well known novels. With this same comparative approach in mind, I had planned on drawing on Julie C. Bullock’s The Other Women’s Lib: Gender and Body in Japanese Fiction,1960-1973. However, due to Murakami’s large body of work, focusing entirely on him seems more manageable within the limits of the dissertation rather than trying to incorporate other authors and their work for comparative purposes. As I mentioned previously, Murakami's short story Sleep may be my gateway into a comparative aspect of the thesis if I chose to explore that aspect.

I have been availing of IT services frequently in my research. I will continue to use available online databases via the Boole Library website. I have also been utilising information from websites such as HarukiMurakami.com and other sites where additional information and/or interviews from the author have been shared. The publications I have been looking at include books and articles but also interviews. My reasoning for examining interviews with Murakami is to gain a better understanding of his personal views, specifically on women and feminism. For example, in an interview with Sean Wilsey for InsideHook from 2021, Murakami refutes “isms” broadly saying his work ought to be categorised as “Murakami-ism” if anything. Murakami gives conflicting answers regarding his portrayals of women. For example, in a 2017 interview with Mieko Kawakami he assert that women aren’t just narratives tools for him. However, in a 2004 interview with John Wray for the “Art of Fiction” series, he stated that women are “mediums” and sex with a woman provides a healing service for men. He gives conflicting answers. On the topic of conflict, there are many opinions that stand in opposition to my perspective. This is an area of controversy as I have not uncovered an abundance of Murakami specific feminist criticism. In fact, Murakami receives most frequently glowing praise. Especially from reviewers and from publications such as The New York Times as printed on the covers of his books. For example, a review of Norwegian Wood from The Guardian recommends the novel as a guidebook to lead you through instances of great difficulty and darkness in life. I certainly do not agree with that notion.

Going forward, I need to expand my scope of research further especially concerning the methodological side of my thesis. I have an idea of Western feminism and what theories would work for my dissertation however, given that I am analysing an author from Japan, I need to find theories from Japan or East Asia widely that could benefit my analysis and my dissertation overall. I have briefly looked at the Onna Daigaku: A Treasure Box of Women's Learning which is from the Meiji era. It's a moral guide for women to base their lives on and is still influential to this day. However, more contemporary theories would be better suited for my thesis. An important question that needs further research and one that I am presently looking into is, what is Japan and Japanese women’s opinion on Murakami’s work? There is still much I don't know so I cannot say I have read all relevant research material yet and perhaps my scope has been a bit narrow but further and more expansive research will be carried out going forward as I delve deeper into the dissertation writing process. I still have a lot of research to conduct, however, I think that my thesis will be a significant contribution to the feminist discourse surrounding Haruki Murakami's writing.

Works Cited

Murakami, Haruki. Norwegian Wood. Translated by Jay Rubin, Vintage, 2003.

Murakami, Haruki. “Sleep” The Elephant Vanishes. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum & Jay Rubin, Vintage, 2012.

Mackie, Vera. Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment, and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Steel, Gill. “Introduction.” Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI, 2020.

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Vintage, 2010.

Mulvey, Laura. “Chapter 3: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Visual and Other Pleasures, 2nd ed., Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 14–27.

Kawakami, Mieko. Breasts and Eggs. Translated by Sam Bett & David Boyd, Picador, 2020.

Bullock, Julia C. The Other Women's Lib: Gender and Body in Japanese Women's Fiction 1960-1973. University of Hawaii Press, 2011.

Wilsey, Sean, and Haruki Murakami. “My Conversation With Haruki Murakami Never Really Ends.” InsideHook, InsideHook, 25 May 2021, https://www.insidehook.com/article/books/sean-wilsey-conversation-with-haruki-murakami.

Kawakami, Mieko, and Haruki Murakami. “Mieko Kawakami Interviews the Author of Killing Commendatore.” Literary Hub, 7 Apr. 2020, https://lithub.com/a-feminist-critique-of-murakami-novels-with-murakami-himself/.

Wray, John, and Haruki Murakami. “Haruki Murakami, The Art of Fiction No. 182.” The Paris Review, 2004, https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2/the-art-of-fiction-no-182-haruki-murakami.

Walter, Damien G. “Winter Reads: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 Dec. 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/06/winter-reads-norwegian-wood-haruki-murakami.

Kaibara, Ekiken, et al. Onna Daigaku: A Treasure Box of Women's Learning. NEZU Press, 2010.