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About us contact details Catalogue
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Interesting, informative, and
provocative. . . . Strecher has made a valuable contribution
to our understanding of Murakami’s fiction. Strecher’s book, like Murakami’s
fiction, is complex, challenging, and meaningful. Fascinating discussions of Murakami’s
historical, cultural, and economic context, the nature of his
readership, and his deft manipulation of the many genres that enliven
[his] novels. As a spokesman for the disaffected youth of the post-1960s, Murakami Haruki has become one of the most important voices in contemporary Japanese literature. In this first book-length study in English of Murakami’s work, Strecher examines Murakami’s fiction – and, to a lesser extent, his nonfiction – for its most prevalent structures and themes, delving into the paradoxes in Murakami’s writings that confront critics and casual readers alike. The methodology, both historical and cultural, analyzes Murakami’s critical focus on the fate of individual identity in contemporary Japan. The result is that the simplicity of the Murakami hero, marked by lethargy and nostalgia, emerges as emblematic of contemporary humankind, bereft of identity, direction, and meaning. Published by Center for
Japanese Studies, University of Michigan |
