896 research outputs found
Boundless Venus: the Crossover of the Conscious and Unconscious in the Works of Haruki Murakami
No full textThe objective of this thesis, Boundless Venus, is to examine consciousness in the
works of the contemporary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Principally the
discussion concerns itself with the unconscious, its conduits, its benefits upon the
conscious; which lead to the transformation of the self and structure of the literature.
Although the subject has been touched upon before, the conscious and unconscious
have previously been examined as exclusive concepts in Murakami. This research
will be looking at the recent change in the ‘crossover’ between these concepts,
which makes the concepts no longer two mutually exclusive concepts but ‘inclusive
concepts’. This is vital to understanding Murakami’s more recent works and the
nature of his influence on literature.
Boundless Venus explores the entire works of Haruki Murakami, principally his
most recent novel 1Q84 (2011) and his novels Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World (1991) and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1997). It approaches the
work from a psychoanalytic and critical point of view and focuses on significant
narrative techniques, character development, and themes such as sex, music, and
dreams, used by Murakami to explore the relationship between the conscious and
unconscious and to narrate the crossover between the two
Contemporary Art in Japan and Cuteness in Japanese Popular Culture
No full textThis thesis is an art historical study focussing on contemporary Japan, and in particular the artists Murakami TakashL Mori Mariko, Aida Makoto, and Nara Yoshitomo. These artists represent a generation of artists born in the 1960s who use popular culture to their own ends. From the seminal exhibition 'Tokyo Pop' at Hiratsuka Museum of Art in 1996 which included all four artists, to Murakami's group exhibition 'Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture' which opened in April 2005, central to my research is an exploration of contemporary art's engagement with the pervasiveness of cuteness in Japanese culture.
Including key secondary material, which recognises cuteness as not merely something trivial but involving power play and gender role issues, this thesis undertakes an interdisciplinary analysis of cuteness in contemporary Japanese popular culture, and examines howcontemporary Japanese artists have responded, providing original research through interviews with Aida Makoto, Mori Mariko and Murakami Takashi. Themes examined include the deconstruction of the high and low in contemporary art; sh6jo (girl) culture and cuteness; the relation of cuteness and the erotic; the transformation of cuteness into the grotesque; cuteness and nostalgia; and virtual cuteness in Japanese science fiction animation, and computer games.
Director of Studies: Toshio Watanabe
Supervisors: David Ryan and Omuka Toshihar
Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-ajh-10.1177_10499091211055901 - Process Evaluation of the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care and Outreach Program: A Questionnaire Survey of the Medical Staff and Bereaved Families
No full textSupplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-ajh-10.1177_10499091211055901 for Process Evaluation of the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care and Outreach Program: A Questionnaire Survey of the Medical Staff and Bereaved Families by Nozomu Murakami, Kouichi Tanabe, Tatsuya Morita, Yasunaga Fujikawa, Shiro Koseki, Shinya Kajiura, Kazunori Nakajima and Ryuji Hayashi in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®</p
Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-2-ajh-10.1177_10499091211055901 - Process Evaluation of the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care and Outreach Program: A Questionnaire Survey of the Medical Staff and Bereaved Families
No full textSupplemental Material, sj-pdf-2-ajh-10.1177_10499091211055901 for Process Evaluation of the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care and Outreach Program: A Questionnaire Survey of the Medical Staff and Bereaved Families by Nozomu Murakami, Kouichi Tanabe, Tatsuya Morita, Yasunaga Fujikawa, Shiro Koseki, Shinya Kajiura, Kazunori Nakajima and Ryuji Hayashi in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®</p
Letter from Miriko [Nagahama] and Harry Murakami to Wilda [Johnson], December 1994
No full textChristmas letter addressed to Wilda [Johnson], describing a family reunion at Mammoth Lakes and providing news of family and friends. Mentioned also are several of Murakami's writings, including the booklet, entitled "A Probable Jesus"; an open letter to Niseis that was printed in the November, [1994?] issue of the Tozai Times, published in Los Angeles; and a future project that Murakami describes as "my Las Vegas project to Niseis residing there."The Manzanar Collection features materials relating to the forced relocation to Manzanar, California, of Miriko Nagahama and Honey Mitsuye Toda, including correspondence, photographs, and newspapers, donated in 1981 and 1995
Thinking outside the Chinese Box: David Mitchell and Murakami Haruki’s subversion of stereotypes about Japan
No full textJapan has often been portrayed by orientalist stereotypes, as famously framed by Edward Said, that were mainly constituted within Europe and North America. There are two distinct streams of orientalist discourse around Japan: traditional Orientalism and techno-Orientalism. Here the West speaks of the Other/the non-West rather than allowing it to speak for itself. In regards to the discourse of ‘Otherness’, another interesting phenomenon is Japan’s self-Orientalising: through the internalisation of the Western Orientalist discourse, Japan identifies itself and constructs its own subjectivity.
In his literary works, the author David Mitchell attempts to subvert the conventional orientalist approach to describe Japan while concurrently maintaining his position as a British observer. He makes use of Western perspectives to cater to his Western readers’ preference for Japan’s traditional and cultural elements, and yet at the same time attempts to subvert stereotypes. Mitchell’s approach is reminiscent of Japanese author Murakami Haruki’s use of both ‘Japaneseness’ and ‘un-Japaneseness’ in his works. Mitchell also learnt the importance of the use of the subjective narrative voice from Murakami. In this article, I examine how David Mitchell, as a western author, attempts to go beyond orientalist stereotypes, and how his writing is influenced by Murakami Haruki
Haruki Murakami and the Ethics of Translation
No full textIn his paper, Haruki Murakami and the Ethics of Translation, Will Slocombe argues that despite the fact that Murakami has gained world-wide popularity recently, there has been little critical attention to his works outside of the comparatively narrow area of Japanese studies. Slocombe proposes that Murakami is too important an author to be limited in this way because of his definition of translation. For Murakami, translation delineates an operative ethics between Self and Other, a dialogue that is not only between different languages and cultures, but also between the private and political spheres, and between different individuals. Slocombe discusses Murakami\u27s works not as translations from the Japanese but presents an analysis of the theme of translation and its significance in terms of national and global identity in the context of comparative cultural studies. Translation is presented as Murakami\u27s method of defending against hegemonic systems, whether global capitalism, political authoritarianism, or prevailing literary trends
Asimilación y posmodernidad: el género negro en la literatura de Haruki Murakami
No full textResumen:
El siguiente texto presenta la intrincada relación que existe entre el género negro y específicamente, el Hard Boiled estadounidense, y la obra del escritor japonés Haruki Murakami. A través de un análisis de varias de sus obras más destacadas, propone que este autor ha asimilado la estructura central de los textos pertenecientes a este género y la ha adaptado en su narrativa, para dar cuenta de la sociedad contemporánea en la que ocurre la acción de las mismas.
Palabras clave: Literatura japonesa, Haruki Murakami, Género negro.
Abstract:
The following text presents the intricate relationship that exists between the noir genre specifically, the Hard Boiled, and the work of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Through an analysis of several of his most outstanding works, this investigation proposes that this author has assimilated the central structure of the texts belonging to this genre and has adapted them in his narrative to inform about the contemporary society where the action happens.
Keywords: Japanese literature, Haruki Murakami, Noir genre
Literary Stardom and Heavenly Gifts: Haruki Murakami (1949)
No full textFrom the volume's introduction: "That contemporary literary celebrity can be a global phenomenon is demonstrated by the example of Haruki Murakami. Globalization of literary production, Gaston Franssen reasons, has had major consequences for this author’s image: for instance, Murakami is frequently attacked in Japan by literary critics on account of the allegedly over-Western style and atmosphere that characterize his work, whereas he is frequently framed in Europe and the United States as an author who presents a penetrating analysis of Japanese culture. Intriguingly, Murakami boasts a broad fan base of loyal readers in both the West and in Japan, who will stand in line at bookstores for hours to buy his latest novel and who gather to share experiences at Murakami festivals. Franssen demonstrates that the author pits diffferent forms of literary authorship against each other in his work, expressing apparent criticism of the commercialization and mediatization of literature.
'A High, Solid Wall': Haruki Murakami, National Identity, and Westernization
No full textHaruki Murakami is no stranger to criticism in Japan, having been described as 'Westernized' by Japanese critics for much of his career. The heavy use of Western culture in his novels seems to suggest that Murakami writes without attention to his nationality, as his books are devoid of references to Japan's popular and artistic canons, and his writing style and the genres he works within owe much to Western origins. Despite these characteristics, I argue in this thesis that Murakami has been unfairly labeled by scholars and critics and seek to show how the author deals directly with Japanese issues of national identity, middle-class disillusionment, and historical memory through his novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami's importance as a Japanese author lies in his progressive outlook for Japan, in which he challenges loss of individuality under Japanese nationalism and pushes for a nation more in tune with the outside world.Master of ArtsIn this thesis, I address the popular claim that Murakami has ignored his Japanese identity by describing how Murakami works through various issues related to Japan in his novels. In my first chapter, I show how the author returns to the mindset of Japan's Meiji Era---an era in which Western themes and forms were incorporated into Japanese society while retaining 'Eastern spirit'---by his use of what Donald Keene calls Japan's 'virtuoso approach.' In my second chapter, I discuss the similarities between John Updike's Rabbit, Run and Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to argue that Murakami uses characteristics of Western suburban literature to better express his thoughts on the tensions those in Japan's middle-class face under the nation's corporate environment. In my final chapter, I analyze Murakami's reception in Korea through a film adaptation of his short story "Barn Burning" and look at the ways he confronts Japanese history in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to show that Murakami acts to the outside world as a forward-thinking voice for Japan. I suggest that the significance of Murakami to the nation can be found in his attempt to confront and diversify Japan's narrowly-defined national identity and controlling structures
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