Murakami’s Fiction, Essay Example

Considering Murakami’s works, it is worth saying that they, indeed, demonstrate certain uncanny stylistic likeness with many Western writers. All in all, in view of some widely-acknowledged literary critics, the aforementioned similarity proves to pinpoint Murakami’s awareness of Japan as the constantly evolving nation, rather than the global tendency to reject traditional Japanese entity. The thing is that Murakami claimed to be “…writing for Japanese people and Japanese people.” (Gregory, et al., 2002, p. 114) In any way, as for this paper, the focus lies in arguing that the uncanny appears to be a central narrative device in Murakami’s fiction.

Obviously, among the lures of Haruki Murakami’s fictional outlook, one should draw special attention to the issue of uncanniness that the readers are likely to uncover in the atmosphere of Murakami’s fictional world as well as the internal world of the author’s characters. A peculiar thing is that Murakami’s “…mysteriously empty spaces have a darkly numinous quality.” (Vasile, 2012, p. 116); one should understand that it actually highlights the fact that something absolutely strange or important is about to take place, a common atmosphere of creepiness that proves to make the readers become concerned even though nothing extraordinary is actually happening. The demonstration of such a disproportionate approach to writing short stories and manifesting the emotions, respectively, is defined within the area of psychoanalytic logic as the proof of repression. Among the psychoanalysts who devoted a vast amount of time to surveying the evidence of repression, it is worth distinguishing Freud; apparently, he considered the abovementioned kind of repressed fear to be the uncanny. The uncanny can be specified as the opposite of all that seems to be convenient, intimate, familiar, evoking the feeling of complete security. Regarding Murakami’s characters, one has to become aware that they emerged to be shaken by sense of uncanniness; moreover, it is worth admitting that they can be characterized by experiencing an absolute uncertainty, in particular concerning the essence of who they are as well as what they are encountering.

Moving through Murakami’s works, it becomes apparent that the uncanny occurs as a central narrative tool in his fiction; one cannot help but become aware that the author pays special attention to sharing with the heroes a fascination with the uncanny. In addition, one cannot but encounter the fact that whenever Murakami is writing, he turns to be addicted to portraying the uncanny. Throughout his works, it is possible to come to understanding the fact that lots of his narrations are focused on unpacking new disproportionately strong feelings, which proves the uncanny to be the major narration device. Apart from the above-said, it is necessary to take into consideration the thing that Murakami’s works portray the idea of self-knowledge, which is extremely significant along with the uncanny as the central narration device. Looking into the struggle of Murakami’s characters with self-knowledge, it is likely to relate to each one, since everyday’s life can be characterized by offering numerous comments on certain issues; and the problem is that people often tend to support certain ideas because of being unable to expound upon the heart of the matter.

Evidently, Murakami’s fiction is thought to be the insight into “ghostly omissions and emissions.” (Royle, 2003, p. 109) The point is that the author appears to return to the darkness, which occurs to be his subjective way to express the uncanny fear of dying. Considering Murakami’s short story “The Elephant Vanishes”, it is worth indicating that the author’s works are definitely difficult to clarify; consequently, one should cease being targeted on overanalyzing them. A peculiar thing is that their uniqueness lies in the issue of incantatory features and the author’s uncanny skills set, which enables the contemporary Japanese writer to tap into a supernatural shared unconscious. Throughout the story “The Elephant Vanishes”, the author managed to utilize the uncanny as the central narration device, since the fundamental pattern of this very story is inevitably tension.  The same about another Murakami’s story “Man-Eating Cats”, which proves to incorporate the uncanny as the pivotal narrative device as well. In literary critics’ opinion, Murakami managed to successfully integrate the uncanny into the narrative. On the basis of Murakami’s approach to narrating the elegiac horror, one has to take into account the fact that he certainly perfected the ability of portraying a quizzical anxiety. The storyteller of “Man-Eating Cats” gives the evidence that it is not just a horror story. Murakami succeeded in writing short stories from the perspective of experimental investigations as a novelist.

To conclude, it is necessary to agree that Murakami’s uncanny site is obviously a straightforward representation of going deep inside the darkness so as to unveil the hidden light; his works emerge to incorporate a profound philosophical sense. It means that apart from direct message, people should try to uncover some hidden messages based upon the details and background. The utilization of various techniques are very effective for creating significant hidden meanings while writing literary masterpieces; yet, a peculiar attention should be drawn to differentiating between real masterpieces evoking serious contemplation and just the attempts to write short stories of no apparent meaning, which have nothing to do with inspiring people to burst through the chains of ordinary life’ flow. Nevertheless, despite the emptiness of pseudo works, many people got accustomed to looking for some hidden meanings within the writers’ short stories; regardless of this fact, everything is in vain, since one cannot unveil nonexistent entity. All in all, regarding Murakami’s fiction, one should be conscious that its central narrative device is the uncanny.

References

Gregory, S., et al. (2002). “It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing: an Interview with Haruki Murakami.” The Review of Contemporary Fiction 2: 111-22.

Royle, N. (2003). The Uncanny. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Vasile, A. (2012). Subjectivity and Space in Haruki Murakami’s Fictional World. Euromentor Journal, 3 (1): 115-134.

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