Kafka on the shore

Kafka on the shore

Kafka on the shore

The current panorama of world literature has an important place for the narrative of Haruki Murakami, the author of Kafka on the shore (2002). Everything has been said about this work, without being able to deny how much the readers of this Japanese writer liked it. And it is that Murakami has a style characterized by absurd atmospheres, close to surrealism or magical realism, palpable in this novel.

Therefore, one can speak of a "Murakamian" world, in which the life of the characters is enigmatic and disconcerting. It is a novel whose plot revolves around two characters, one young and the other older, conditioned by their circumstances.. In principle, their stories do not seem to be related to each other, however, Murakami creates an ingenious way to relate them.

Some biographical information on the author, Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami is a writer and translator born in the city of Kyoto on January 12, 1949, highly influenced by Western literature. During his childhood he received Japanese and Buddhist religious education from his paternal grandfather, while growing up with a merchant mother. Later, He entered Waseda University, where he studied Hellenic literature and drama.

In the aforementioned house of studies he met his future wife, Yoko. The couple later decided not to have children, instead they decided to found their own jazz club in Tokyo, called Peter Cat. Also, as a baseball fan, he attended many games. Then, during a game a hit to the ball inspired him to write his first novel, Hear the song of the wind (1973)

Literary consecration

Murakami's first written publications had quite low editorial numbers. Despite this circumstance, the Japanese man of letters was not demoralized, rather he continued to create texts devoid of borders between the real and the dreamlike.

The 80s saw the launch of Pinball 1973 (1980) y The hunt for the wild ram (1982). Finally, in 1987, Tokyo Blues (Norweigian Wood) gave Murakami national and international fame. Since that year, the Japanese author has published nine novels, five collections of stories plus numerous texts of various kinds between illustrated stories, essays and books of dialogues.

Other bestselling novels by Murakami

  • Dance Dance Dance (1988)
  • Chronicle of the bird that winds the world (1995)
  • The death of the commander (2017)

Literature in Murakami: style and influences

Haruki Murakami and his wife lived between the United States and Europe until 1995, when they decided to return to Japan. Meanwhile, his recognition in the literary world was increasing. Although, already in those instances he was vilified by some critical voices, both in the East and in the West.

Haruki Murakami quote.

Haruki Murakami quote.

In addition, the publication of Kafka on the shore in 2002 he made the Kiotense writer even more widely read and raised his prestige to such an extent that he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize on several occasions. On the other hand, the important influences in his literature would be music - jazz, mainly - and the North American narrative from authors like Scott Fitzgerald or Raymond Carver.

Summary of Kafka on the shore

The youngster Tamura lives with her father, with whom you have a bad relationship, to make matters worse, their mother and sister abandoned them when that one was little. In this context, the protagonist runs away from home after turning fifteen. Yes, now Kafka Tamura is going south, to Takamatsu.

At that point an inescapable question arises: why does the protagonist run away? With the answer, the surreal elements begin, since Kafka Tamura's father accuses his son of, like Oedipus Rex, wanting to kill him in order to sleep with his mother and sister.

The parallel story

On the other hand, Satoru Nakata is introduced, an old man who lived an inexplicable experience during his childhood. Specifically, he lost consciousness and upon waking he had lost memory and communication faculties, in addition: he could talk to cats. For this reason, he decided to dedicate his life to rescuing felines everywhere and came across a character named Johnny Walken, linked to cats.

Confluence

Upon reaching Takamatsu, Kafka Tamura found refuge in a library. There, Mrs. Saeki (the director) and Oshima, help the protagonist. Next, Kafka Tamura has interesting approaches with these characters, discovering in Oshima a source of revelations about himself.

Later, Nakata discovers that Johnny Walken is, in fact, an evil man who kills felines. Consequently, he confronts him until he defeats him (with the help of the cats). After that, the old man meets Tamura in Takamatsu by entering a peculiar metaphysical plane. So, successively, the lives of all the members of the story are interwoven without further explanation until the end of the book.

Meta Kafka on the shore

The relevance of your literary proposal

The narrative of the novel Kafka on the shore try to join several paths, seemingly far from each other, to direct the thread of events. In this way, the curiosity of the reader increases as stories that are not very coherent are exposed.

In the case of this novel, it might be a bit difficult to understand the reason for the alternation of two stories - initially - disjointed. Despite this, readers stick around to learn about the unfolding of curious and distressing events of characters becoming close. In the end, there is an incredible way of putting the stories together, using the imagination.

A novel between the magic and the real

Usually the literature proposed by Haruki Murakami it involves a mixture of two dimensions contained within a single aesthetic unit. In other words, the approach to the story can advance from a perfectly real narrative to unfold in supernatural situations, without any problem. To such an extent that the fanciful facts end up being assumed as true.

Critical voices

Some critical sector has described the narrative of the Japanese author as a "pop novel", incorporating reliable references (trademarks, for example). In parallel, reality is warped slowly due to posing impossible questions. The latter is the resource most mentioned about Murakami, both for his detractors, and for his millions of followers.

Deeply human themes

As in others best sellers from the Japanese author, Kafka on the shore it has a thematic complexity (paradoxically) easy to read. In this point, the approach on critical issues for human beings (love, loneliness, depression ...) is crucial to hook the reader.

In fact, each story, no matter how complex it may be, is raising the anguish of being isolated and alone (Satoru Nakata) and the way out. While, the theme of family relationships and the consequences of not feeling one's place until leaving (Kafka Tamura), point to human life itself.


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