Week 2 review

The magical within the mundane:
what is the landscape of Japan in A Wild Sheep Chase?


Week 2: April 6 (T)
Review of modern/postmodern
Kato Norihiro and the big "F-you."

How does Murakami present the transition from autumn 1969 to 1970?

• In the story, why is November 25, 1970 significant?
• What issues linger in the "moody" background but are left unspecified? Or, what IS the critical issue on the edge of 1969-1970?

The spirit of protest (?)

• The US-Japan Security Alliance (ANPO): why did this signify colonization and re-militarization?
• The Narita Airport controversy: why did this signify state domination and the prioritization of economic development over the lives of people?
• How would you characterize how people responded to these two events?
• What changed by the 1970s and why?
• In the novel, how is Mishima Yukio's sensationalized attempted coup and suicide on Nov 25th seen as a marker for the end of the 1960s?

Why does Murakami begin with this memory?

• How might his treatment of 1969 be criticized as postmodern frivolity?
• Alternatively, how does he textually characterize the distance of the 1960s as a longing and continuous search for meaning?
• What does this opening story suggest for the rest of the novel?

In terms of character development, how does Murakami's narrator embody the post-modern self?

• What details in the novel show us his disconnection from others, uncomfortable memories, and his own sense of self?
• Reviewing his conversation with his co-worker, how does this narrator understand the world?

What are the political possibilities of a "fairy tale"?

• Why biz-ness?
• How does the Boss symbolize, again, repression of historical memory, critical engagement, etc?
• What can we make of dreams?
• Isn't Murakami's writing...dream-like? What does this suggest about Murakami's engagement with his audience?

Week 2: April 8 (Th)
Led by: the girl who drinks too much coffee, the guy with the hat, the guy who gets free bagels, and the guy with the name-tag that the sheep-teacher couldn't read from the back of the class.

I will attribute some key discussion points to individual speakers - sorry for any mis-attributions, typos in your names. If your contribution isn't here, it is because I did not have time to write it down -- not because it was a "bad" comment etc.

The narrator:

• He seems utterly disconnected from society (no name, no hometown, no real job) and immature (Brian, and others).
• The 1970s-1980s: we live in a world where everything is provided for us - we no longer need to struggle just to survive. This might explain why the narrator is so apathetic.
  
• Also, identity becomes marked now by pointless things: polite drunk-walker.
• The chaos of the novel address the reader; in Murakami's writing style and narrative technique, we too understand the chaos of the post-modern world (Eric)
  

The setting:

• page 107: adrift, lost, and only an understanding of "community" as a set of pre-fab apartments (Raihan)
• 113, 119: Post-modern rain - there is no rebirth, or washing away, or baptism (Ola)
• contributes to an oppressive mood, especially considering the rainy season in Japan (Lindsey)

Whale penis:

• whale penis = disembodied, severed sex symbols = like ears that can be killed
• whale penis = narrator, useless and no purpose just hanging out
• whale penis = failure of modernity. If Modernity is trying to catalogue the enormity of, say, the ocean in a museum then the ridiculous penis on display shows how the Grand Plan just doesn't work (Jessica)

On Writing. Consider Rat's letters as a commentary on writing itself:

• no meaning or purpose seemingly and quite vague
• letters are one-way; "I" cannot reply
• his novel is left unread and thrown into "I"'s desk
• yet, they trigger "I"'s journeys: sheep photo and the task of saying goodbye
• Murakami is, obviously, a writer. What commentary is being made?
  

Have a happy weekend. We'll cover most of the book in Week 3 and finish it by Week 4.