Tag Archives: Haruki Murakami

On Labeling Survivors as “Crisis Actors”

By Robin Bates | Published: February 27, 2018

Murakami has the perfect analogy for the vast rightwing echo chamber that labels mass shooting survivors as “crisis actors.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Murakami and Millennials’ Identity Quests

By Robin Bates | Published: January 10, 2018

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 , , , , , , | Comments closed

Note to Men: Face Your Inner Violence

By Robin Bates | Published: November 22, 2017

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 , , , , , | Comments closed

Murakami on Ideology’s Hollowness

By Robin Bates | Published: November 8, 2017

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 , , , | Comments closed

Putin as Murakami’s Boris the Manskinner

By Robin Bates | Published: October 31, 2017

Murakami’s Boris the Manskinner has an unsettling resemblance to Vladimir Putin and wannabe authoritarian Donald Trump. Without strong beliefs, one cannot stand up to him.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Murakami Explains Lure of Fascism

By Robin Bates | Published: September 15, 2017

Murakami’s “Wild Sheep Chase” helps explain why young men are drawn to fascism, as we saw in Charlottesville.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Murakami: Don’t Be a Sheep

By Robin Bates | Published: December 20, 2016

Murakami’s “Wild Sheep Chase” is a modern parable that has important lessons for confronting authoritarian regimes. That’s the lesson one of my Bernie supporters took from it. Another student used it to support his decision to come out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

The Magic Spell Cast by Stories

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2016

In “1Q84” Murakami describes novels as holding out the promise to solve our problems only we can’t quite make them out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Trump Sees Garbage and Rocks in Foes

By Robin Bates | Published: May 31, 2016

I’ve compared Donald Trump to Murakami’s villain in “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” Today I dig deeper into the comparison.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed