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.
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Tag Archives: Haruki Murakami
Putin as Murakami’s Boris the Manskinner
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Magnitsky Act, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, politics, Russia sanctions, Vladimir, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Murakami Explains Lure of Fascism
Murakami’s “Wild Sheep Chase” helps explain why young men are drawn to fascism, as we saw in Charlottesville.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Charlottesville demonstrations, Confederate statues, Heather Heyer, KKK, neofascism, white nationalism, white supremacy, Wild Sheep Chase Comments closed
Murakami: Don’t Be a Sheep
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 coming out, Donald Trump, LBGTQ issues, Wild Sheep Chase Comments closed
The Magic Spell Cast by Stories
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 1Q84, Charles Dickens, children reading, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Oliver Twist, Ozma of Oz, Twelfth Night Comments closed
Trump Sees Garbage and Rocks in Foes
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 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, politics, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Trump as a Haruki Murakami Villain
Donald Trump has an uncanny resemblance to the villain Noboru Wataya in Haruki Murakami’s masterful novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” (1998). Both have a similar hollowness and both have the ability to separate people from the higher instincts and put them in thrall to their lower ones.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, GOP, Jonathan Bernstein, politics, racism, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, xenophobia Comments closed
Literature as a Social Activity
Literature becomes especially interesting when it enters social situations.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Lawrence Sterne, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy, Tristram Shandy Comments closed
Murakami’s Emotional Blandness as Shield
Haruki Murakami’s protagonists have a distinctive form of emotional blandness that helps them cope with the world.
Bigotry = A Loathsome Lack of Imagination
Murakami says that the worst thing about bigots is that they are hollow men devoid of imagination.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged bigotry, homophobia, intolerance, Kafka on the Shore, racism Comments closed