In his book about reading lit in prison, Genis talks about how novels helped him understand fellow inmates and discover his own Jewishness.
Tag Archives: Haruki Murakami
Reading Lit to Cope with Prison
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1Q84, Alan Moore, American Gods, Bohumil Hrabal, Daniel Genis, Franz Kafka, Good as Gold, Herzog, Jaroslav Hasek, Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Heller, Neil Gaiman, Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Prison, reading in prison, Saul Bellow, Sentence, The Good Soldier Svejk Comments closed
Manskinner Boris & Putin’s Terror Tactics
Russian atrocities in Ukraine bring to mind Boris the Manskinner, from Murakami’s “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged atrocities, genocide, Russo-Ukrainian War, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
A Murakami Villain Surfaces in Ukraine
Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine bring to mind Boris the Mankiller in Murakami’s “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Russian Invasion of Ukraine, torture, war atrocities, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Murakami and Kyiv’s Zoo Crisis
The Kyiv Zoo is finding itself caught up in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Murakami anticipates such a situation in “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Kyiv Zoo, Ukraine invasion, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Hurricane Ida and Murakami’s 1Q84
Comparing Hurricane Id’s damage with a supernatural rainstorm in Murakami’s “1Q84” leads to interesting climate observations.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1Q84, climate change, cults, extreme weather events, Hurricane Ida, hurricanes, Trumpism Comments closed
A Partial Defense of Plato’s Poet Ban
Perhaps Plato banished poets from his ideal society because he appreciated the destructive potential of stories. He’s relevant in light of today’s conspiracy theories.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1Q84, Aeschylus, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, Euripides, Homer, philosophy vs. poetry, Plato, QAnon, Republic, Sophocles Comments closed
Indecipherable Texts of a Magic Spell
Murakami’s “1Q84” has a magical passage about the power of literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1Q84, Charles Dickens, mathematics, Oliver Twist Comments closed
Murakami and Repressed Anger’s Toxicity
Murakami’s novels cast light on a recent Japanese football incident where a player was instructed to take out the other team’s quarterback.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged anger issues, Japanese men, Kafka on the Shore, repressed anger, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Food Is More Than Food for Esquivel
Esquivel captures the greater significance of food in “Like Water for Chocolate.” I also share a whiskey cake recipe and reflect on the magic in magical realism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 100 Years of Solitude, cake recipe, Confessions, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate, magical realism, Marcel Proust, Midnight's Children, Remembrance of Things Past, Salman Rushdie, whiskey cake, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
