Comparing Hurricane Id’s damage with a supernatural rainstorm in Murakami’s “1Q84” leads to interesting climate observations.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Haruki Murakami
Hurricane Ida and Murakami’s 1Q84
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
On Labeling Survivors as “Crisis Actors”
Murakami has the perfect analogy for the vast rightwing echo chamber that labels mass shooting survivors as “crisis actors.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged conspiracy theories, crisis actors, NRA, Parkland Florida shooting, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Murakami and Millennials’ Identity Quests
Murakami’s novels appeal to millennials because they are existential parables, and young people are grappling with life’s big questions, especially identity and purpose.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged existential quest, existentialism, Hard Boiled Wonderland, Kafka on the Shore, millennials, Wild Sheep Chase, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Note to Men: Face Your Inner Violence
To grapple with the fact of male sexual assault, it helps to have powerful literary explorations. Murakami provides one in “Kafka on the Shore.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged bell hooks, Kafka on the Shore, male violence, Roy Moore, sexual harassment, Will to Change Comments closed
Murakami on Ideology’s Hollowness
Murakami’s diatribe against rigid ideologues in “Kafka on the Shore” applies only too well to figures on the American right.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged GOP, Kafka on the Shore, politics, rightwing ideologues Comments closed