tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post6499919451741921329..comments2024-01-07T14:25:51.724-08:00Comments on Sgt. Tanuki's Lonely Hearts Club Blog: Murakami Haruki: 1Q84 (2009-2010)Tanukihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00010917992146986329noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-85057589131578234792014-01-04T21:58:23.702-08:002014-01-04T21:58:23.702-08:00I really enjoyed this post. Have you read this rev...I really enjoyed this post. Have you read this review by Terrence Rafferty?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2011/11/haruki_murakami_s_1q84_reviewed_a_love_story_lurks_within_a_disaster_epic.html" rel="nofollow">A love story lurking within a disaster epic</a><br /><br />I agree with him that the last part basically says that, when you find love, nothing else matters.<br />That’s also what Julia and Winston told themselves. Before Big Brother broke them.<br /><br />“Aomame’s transformation is particularly disappointing, as she goes from being decisive, self-directed, and cool to being hopelessly devoted to her girlhood crush. Without particularly undergoing any form of repentance for her murderous past, she has a kind of ambiguous spiritual awakening, and sees her childhood love for Tengo as her only chance at redemption.”<br /><br />I’ve seen some seemingly decisive, self-directed and cool women meet some guy, give up careers that they have worked so hard to build and move across the ocean to become stay at home wives. I don’t really understand why but it happens all the time.<br /><br />Actually, when I read “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”, I thought about Julia and Winston, especially the part where he lets himself lose her in the crowd because he doesn’t know what to say.<br /><br />P.S. Please write a longer post on chungking expressedamame masafuminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-965632909675615972012-09-03T09:08:04.960-07:002012-09-03T09:08:04.960-07:00"Even though the boku in Hard-boiled Wonderla..."Even though the boku in Hard-boiled Wonderland only shuffles data once, that "genre" aspect of the story felt far more fleshed out to me."<br /><br />I was actually quite surprised when I reread End of the World this time to find that he only shuffled data once in the story before the big meltdown. I had such a clear memory of what data shuffling was as a concept, such a vivid mental image of that part of the book, that on revisiting it I couldn't believe that Murakami didn't spend more time establishing that aspect of the character. But the fact that I never noticed this before must mean that what Murakami does in the novel is sufficiently effective: i.e., he establishes data shuffling as much as he <i>needs</i> to.<br /><br />In 1Q84 I did <i>notice</i> that he only showed us Aomame the assassin in action once before her big mission. And it <i>did</i> surprise me, because as you suggest, genre fiction generally spends a little more time establishing the norms of an abnormal situation before violating them. But it didn't bother me, or at least not much, because I do think we get a pretty clear view of how Aomame operates as an assassin, and so maybe another "normal" mission or two would have been redundant (if fun), and added another hundred pages or so to what is already a leviathan of a book. <br /><br />Discussing this now I realize that, for all of Murakami's well-commented-upon use of genre fiction tropes, he doesn't seem to have what it takes to write successful genre fiction per se. I think it would take incredible discipline to write a book that carefully observed (even in the breach) all the rules of a genre. It would take a dedication to the craftsmanship of writing - the planning out ahead of time of plots, the careful construction of a narrative architecture, the willingness to include a certain amount of the familiar and predictable along with the new and inventive... None of this seems to me to be Murakami's strong suit. He clearly loves genre fiction, and is comfortable including or evoking elements of it, often quite effectively - I think he could spend so little time establishing Aomame's assassin work because in that respect she's close to a straight cop of Nikita, and he knows we'll recognize that. But to write a novel that works, start to finish, on genre logic would require a different approach to writing altogether. You can't improvise a successful suspense novel, I suspect. <br /><br />"What did you think of the "maza" "dohta" thing in translation?"<br /><br />You mean, why did Rubin invent the words "maza" and "dohta" rather than just translating the words as "mother" and "daughter"? I suspect it's because the katakana マザ and ドウタ don't match up exactly to the standard katakana renderings of mother (マザー) and daughter (ドーター). It's unmistakable that マザ・ドウタ are <i>derived</i> from "mother" and "daughter," but I can perfectly imagine what would have happened if I'd been taking a class with Rubin and brought in a translation of one of these passages and translated the terms, unproblematically, as "mother" and "daughter." He would have pointed out the katakana distinction being made in the original, and asked how I account for that in my translation. So I think his decision to use romaji was his attempt to account for it. As in the original, we can pretty easily guess the words' derivation, but we also have to face the fact that they're <i>not</i> the normal words. It actually struck me as a pretty effective (in both the original and the translation) evocation of the way tight-knit religious communities tend to create their own dialects.<br /><br />None of that changes the fact that this aspect of the novel, like every other, ends in a big fizzle...Tanukihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00010917992146986329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-2451432130762164692012-09-03T07:08:37.461-07:002012-09-03T07:08:37.461-07:00Man, late to the game with these Murakami posts, b...Man, late to the game with these Murakami posts, but I intend to read all of them! Great stuff.<br /><br />Like Matt, I was a little surprised you enjoyed part 1 so much. I thought your potential routes for the Sakigake/Komatsu/Ebisuno connection were really interesting...that might have tied the whole thing together very nicely.<br /><br />I guess my biggest complaint with most of the novel was that I didn't particularly like Aomame. I thought her characterization was inconsistent at times (even within the first part), and we really only got to see her in the assassin role once before she has to take on Leader. (On a side note, I think that reveals one of Murakami's major weaknesses as a writer - he is totally unable to compress time: everything must be narrated.) Even though the boku in Hard-boiled Wonderland only shuffles data once, that "genre" aspect of the story felt far more fleshed out to me.<br /><br />I did like the sections about Tengo's father, especially the historic sections.<br /><br />I agree that the title and Orwell connections are weak. Incredibly weak. The name of the alternate reality was forced and really could have been anything.<br /><br />One question: What did you think of the "maza" "dohta" thing in translation? That baffled me. I haven't finished reading the translation, but when I flipped through those sections I was really confused.Danielhttp://howtojaponese.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-32728252742851951802012-09-03T01:07:54.493-07:002012-09-03T01:07:54.493-07:00Point taken! Let me get back to you with some spec...Point taken! Let me get back to you with some specific (I mean nuts-and-bolts, this-chapter-doesn't-work-for-me-because-the-sentences-are-too-long level) critiques, then.Matthttp://no-sword.jp/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-29584797942511102812012-09-02T23:01:16.627-07:002012-09-02T23:01:16.627-07:00You write:
"I wonder if some really close li...You write:<br /><br />"I wonder if some really close line-by-line reading would illuminate the differences in what we saw."<br /><br />and, earlier:<br /><br />"Do you have a theory as to why we all hate it so much, if it's so great?"<br /><br />It sounds like you're asking me to explain why you (and your circle) didn't like it, which I don't feel is in my power to do... All I can do is try to explain why I liked what I liked (and didn't like what I didn't). And I've just spent 4300 words trying to do that. I don't know if I have anything more to say at this point. Your turn? Tanukihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00010917992146986329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-18139675532718356032012-09-02T21:18:35.193-07:002012-09-02T21:18:35.193-07:00When did you first start objecting to prolixity in...<i>When did you first start objecting to prolixity in Murakami?</i><br /><br />To be honest, Murakami's prolixity is one of the reasons I'm not really a big Murakami fan! Thus, I didn't even start KotS and haven't yet got around to finishing WUBC in the original (to be honest, barring some external pressure, I probably never WILL get around to that). Only a couple of his books really speak to me, and those because they are about themes that resonate with me so strongly that I will put up with (even enjoy) prolixity.<br /><br />I think part of the problem I had with 1Q84 was that it was not at all what I was expecting. Given the title and the buzz, I was looking forward to some serious parallel-world stuff, maybe with Orwellian overtones, maybe even addressing that "enigma of Japanese power" thing you briefly raise in your post. And I was hoping that the parallel world thing combined with the massive size would mean all kinds of surrealism and memorable vignettes like in WUBC. But, as you also mention in your post, that doesn't really happen. Instead, I got the same old blank-slate everymen and elegantly traumatised femmes fatales drinking the same old whiskey, except this time in slow motion.<br /><br />So I'm really curious about how we came away with such different impressions. When you say, "Aomame the feminist assassin is quite simply one of the great characters in his ouevre. And not just because of her ingredients: she comes alive on the page," I feel like we were reading different books. To me, Aomame was flat, uninteresting, and unbelievable. Even her dialogue, which you specifically praise, I found tiresome! I wonder if some really close line-by-line reading would illuminate the differences in what we saw. (I'm quite aware of the possibility that the good stuff just went over my head, of course.)Matthttp://no-sword.jp/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-36370405325037817022012-09-02T18:25:57.496-07:002012-09-02T18:25:57.496-07:00I don't have an explanation for this. I'v...I don't have an explanation for this. I've often found that I've been more lenient on Murakami's post-2000 work than my Murakami-reading friends, so I'm not surprised to find that happening now. <br /><br />I feel like just using the James Thurber response: "You may be right." But I don't like copping out on matters of aesthetics - differences of opinion on these are eminently worth exploring. <br /><br />When did you first start objecting to prolixity in Murakami? Because as I noted in my discussion of Dance Dance Dance, English translators and editors starting cutting things out as early as 1989. This is, in a sense, a known issue with him - he doesn't go back and revise much, at least in his full-lengths, and sometimes it shows. But really, were you surprised to find that happening here? And did you find it much worse here than in, say, Kafka on the Shore or Wind-up Bird Chronicle? All I can say is, I didn't. At least until Book 3.Tanukihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00010917992146986329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5114353219480265259.post-56534241905480407952012-09-02T18:00:37.969-07:002012-09-02T18:00:37.969-07:00Among my circle of Murakami-reading friends, you a...Among my circle of Murakami-reading friends, you are unique in your positive feelings about part 1 of this book. (At least we can all agree on part 2.) Do you have a theory as to why we all hate it so much, if it's so great?<br /><br />I couldn't even bring myself to finish it -- life is too short! -- but I clearly remember the scene where Tengo ponders the nature of editing because it is one of the few times I've felt almost _angry_ at an author. Here we have Tengo talking about how editing is the most important part of writing a novel, how you have to learn which sentences can be cut and sometimes even paragraphs because editing is so important, and because of this importance, of editing I mean, sentences which can be cut should be cut, and mutatis mutandis for paragraphs, and sometimes there will be rearrangements too because editing is so... and so on, for what felt like 50 pages, <em>that should have been much better edited</em>. Maybe this was a meta-joke on Murakami's part and I am totally a square for not enjoying it, but I mean, I don't want to actually sit down and watch Andy Warhol's <i>Sleep</i> either, you know?Matthttp://no-sword.jp/blog/noreply@blogger.com