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Paper short abstract:

Examining Murakami’s travelogues based on his experience in Italy and Greece, Tōi taiko (Distant Drums) and Uten enten (Rainy Skies, Blazing Skies), I read Murakami’s writing as a “two-world literature” that complicates our understanding of contemporary Japanese fiction and its global positioning.

Paper long abstract:

Murakami Haruki is arguably one of the most global authors of contemporary Japan. The novels that made him famous were written during sojourns overseas; he actively constructed his career around his image as a cosmopolitan author; he presents his experience of displacement as one of the main sources of his creativity; and his vast production also includes several travelogues. Interestingly, despite the existence of a long-standing tradition of Japanese travel writing, all the way from Matsuo Basho’s Oku no hosomichi (the Narrow Road From the Deep North, 1702) to Mori Ogai’s Doitsu nikki (German Diary, 1937), Murakami’s travelogues are overtly inspired by English-language travel writing. This is consistent with the author’s long-standing habit of looking for sources of inspiration in foreign, particularly Anglo-American, fiction.

Some critics condemn Murakami’s disregard for the Japanese tradition as a xenophile pose that resulted in lack of originality and cultural authenticity, while others value it as the basis of his unique and innovative style. Balancing between these two seemingly opposed interpretations of Murakami’s relationship with foreign literature and culture, this paper will look at how the author uses the conventions of English-language ‘cosmopolitan’ travel writing as a means of self-promotion, and shed light on the cultural politics that inform Murakami’s travelogues. Through a close reading of two of Murakami’s travelogues based on his experience in Italy and Greece, Tōi taiko (Distant Drums) and Uten enten (Rainy Skies, Blazing Skies), both published in 1990, I propose to read Murakami’s travel writing as a form of “two-world literature” that complicates our understanding of contemporary Japanese fiction and its global positioning.