Murakami Blog #1

    As someone who was very unfamiliar with Murakami's works, I've found it so interesting to see the motifs that he continually uses throughout his writing. In A Wild Sheep Chase I loved his descriptions of otherworldliness and the way he subtly blurs the feeling of reality. His use of body sensations and perception of the environment from the character's perspective is quite immersive and the shifts in reality as the plot develops is fascinating. The use of mirrors and strange changes in time, and the feelings those things invoke is beautiful. After finishing the novel and then reading his short story, Where I'm Likely to Find It, it is clear that the reading of the mirror has so much breadth within his body of work. I can imagine that for someone who has read a number of his books, the symbolism and subtext of the mirror has layers of referred meaning. I talk about the mirror specifically because of its relevance in the novel, and a few of the short stories, but the same can be said for many other symbols and motifs in his works. 

    Another thing I enjoyed from Where I'm Likely to Find It was the way he takes detective story tropes to a different place by mixing in his surrealist elements. It's never explicitly described who the protagonist is, what his other job is, or why he is after something seemingly very out of reach. He follows the methodology of a detective, interviewing potential witnesses and taking notes, looking for clues, but beyond that never progresses his search beyond waiting in the staircase. The protagonist maybe has some sort of sixth sense that is leading him in his search for something that might look like a door or an umbrella. Something about this vague magical realism is charming and lends itself to a possibility of deeper readings. As with South Bay Strut, these short stories do a great job of creating a world and mystery outside the self-contained story we read. Mentions of "the Jameson case" (3), and this thing the protagonist has been looking for since before the little girl was born (288) speak to larger ideas at play. However, I'm honestly not quite sure what to think of Stockings. The story feels kind of nonsensical to me, even though the man is acting assuredly and methodically. Even the first and last sentences addressing the reader directly are disorienting. I'm looking forward to see what other people make of it.

Kaito Aoki-Goldsmith