Between self-promotion and cultural politics: Murakami Haruki's travelogues

Through a close reading of contemporary Japanese novelist Murakami Haruki's accounts of his travels in Southern Europe, the United States, and Australia, this article analyses the ways in which this author uses travel writing to promote his self-image as a cosmopolitan and culturally sensitive writer. At the same time, examining the complex dynamics of identification and differentiation at play in the narratives, it highlights the texts’ potential to generate critical reflections on both Japanese and global cultural and social formations. By looking at Murakami's distinctive combination of self-promotion and cultural critique, the article's overarching goal is to complicate the current understanding of the genre travel writing and its colonial legacy.     

Out of the (B)earth canal: the mythic journey in Murakami Haruki

Abstract

From the start of his writing career Murakami Haruki has sent his hero on underground quests. While all, or nearly all, of his heroes accomplish their most immediate missions in the Underworld, however, few return to the everyday world truly fulfilled. This essay explores the Murakami quest in terms of myth and sacred ritual, paying special attention to ritual initiation as a form of symbolic death and rebirth. It focuses chiefly on the 2017 novel Kishidanchō-Goroshi (translated 2018 as Killing Commendatore), but also explores other Murakami fiction written since the year 2000 such as Umibe no Kafuka (2002; Kafka On the Shore) and 1Q84 (2009–10; 1Q84), in which the author began to experiment with heroes who possess sacred qualities, yet need to awaken to and accept these qualities, as well as the responsibilities that accompany them. Such heroes, I argue, possess the potential to be successfully initiated into the mysteries of the Underworld, and thus not only to succeed in their missions underground, but to achieve the rebirth and reconstitution offered the triumphant mythic hero. As a wider theme, the essay argues that, in this modern age of rationalism, fiction centered on the theme of the mythic hero is one of the venues in which the sacred and the mythical remain a living reality, offering readers an opportunity to connect with the mythic roots of their archaic past.     

Linkages Methodology: No Man is an Island

The paper argues that given the diversity of the field of forcedmigration, research requires a multi-disciplinary approach andan awareness of the multiplicity of interacting factors whichcome into play. It examines two key texts published 20 yearsapart which exemplify the linkages approach. Imposing Aid (1986)studied the developing situation in Sudan as refugees arrivedfrom Uganda in the early 1980s, and showed the unproductivenature of interactions between officials and refugees. Landscapeof Hope and Despair (2005) examined the situation of Palestiniansin refugee camps, where the refugees’ own agency comesup against the structural constraints of camp administrationand the political actions of local and international power holders.