Murakami Haruki: A Serious Literature Writer Under the Cover of Pop Culture

Abstract

As a famous contemporary writer, Murakami Haruki has a wide-reaching influence throughout the world, especially in East Asia. In my thesis, I intend to analyze his novels and short stories from 1979 to 2014. In doing so, I will reveal why Murakami Haruki is so popular in Asia, particularly China. This analysis will demonstrate that East Asian public culture has been undergoing changes during the past 20 years. I will analyze four of Murakami’s works: Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Norwegian Wood (1987), to The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995), and finishing with Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Year Of Pilgrimage (2013). Though the evolution of his works, Murakami makes it clear that Japanese society has been under transformation since World War II. After the end of the war, this society changed from a capitalist to cosmopolitan one. I will also discuss how his novels are associated with China, as well as his works’ adaptation in China and among Chinese readers. Since becoming famous, Murakami’s work has been highly criticized. These criticisms has come primarily from Komori Yōichi, Fujii Shozo, Kuroko Kazuo and Kato Norihiro. By discussing these critics, I want to reveal the true meaning for Murakami to be a writer and why I consider him as a serious literature writer under the cover of pop culture.