After the Quake - Murakami

Yeah, he's bloody prolific I'll say that for him. That book sounds interesting Drew.. might pick it up also.. still got 'Hard Boiled Wonderland..' on the shelf too. 'Hard Boiled Wonderland..' kind of interested me after reading 'Underground'.. Murakami refered, quite a few times, to these weird beings (that live in the sewer/underground?) he had created in 'Wonderland' ..and he very eloquently relates this part of his fiction to what happened on the Tokyo Subway.. . he just plays with the connection, questions it and muses on how the darker aspects of the psyche can come out, and play themselves out, in fiction and in reality. 'Underground', is also just a sterling piece of investigative journalism too. I was really glad that he'd actually included interviews with many of the cult-members.. so you get the other side of the story. You can really get to grips with the idea that this wasn't just some freak, nutty thing that happened.. it was actually deeply rooted in the way Japanese culture has developed over the last twenty or thirty years. Anyhow, will have to beg a family member to send a copy of '..Quake' to me. Brautigan too.. and on and on! [%sig%]

Yeah, I fancy reading Underground, I was looking at it in the shop the other day. And Murakami is prolific; only a small amount of his writing is available in English. His novels often have these dual worlds; one closer to fantasy, one more realistic (and in the quake stories the alternative world is mostly one of dreams). Rubin compares him to Proust - history only lies in memory, and these alternative worlds exist somehow exist in memory which the characters are trying to return to.

hey Andrew what's your opinion about the Swastika being banned in Europe just because that asshole Harry wore it to a private party? The swastika is a symbol of anciant Hindu culture -- same place where karmic pranayama originated -- which was hi-jacked by Hitler -- which the Christian west is using as an excuse to wipe it off the face of Europe. Shouldn't the cross be wiped off the face of the earth thereby for being used as symbol of discrimination against us Hindus? What do you think? Do you think?

Yes I do think rita.. I think you might want to post this on a separate thread.. it doesn't really smack much of Japanese literature to me. THEN we can have a good old chat about it. Waddya say? [%sig%]

There's a lovely piece online on one of the Murakami fansites Drew, comparing the opening of Wild Sheep Chase with Carver's short Blackbird Pie - particularly Murakami's translation of it. It's a really good read, and sent me back to Blackbird Pie, which I'd underrated as a Carver short. He manages to get inside the fractured mind of his narrator so well. Still haven't read any of Kafka On the Shore - I got loads of books about the North and South Pole explorations for Christmas and nothing else seems worth reading compared to those.

Where is it Andrew - I couldn't find it. I bought Alfred Lansing's book Endurance but haven't got around to it. Any good? I might start Kafka on the Shore today.....

Just finished 'Hard Boiled Wonderland..' this thread kind of got me into reading it. Liked it. First proper Murakami fiction I've read. VERY loose with description and dialogue from time to time.. he's much more chatty than I thought he would be. A bit too overly stylised for my liking, at times, but overall VERY fresh and VERY interesting. Will read more.. [%sig%]

And I've just finished 'Kafka on the Shore'. I liked it a lot, although I found it was better not to think too hard what it was about, and to just go with the flow. I like what David Mitchell said in his review, just by having a boy who kills his father (maybe) and sleeps with his mother (maybe) and sister (maybe) isn't really dealing with the Oedipus complex on any deep level. A lot of it takes place in a library, and so there is loads of discussions about books. Also the work of Beethoven, the films of Truffaut, and so on and so on. And so on. For all its Western influences it is also very Japanese. Having lived there, and visited Shikoku (where the book is set), it kind of took me back. Shikoku, by the way, is a great place - very different to Tokyo.

I'm off to Thailand tomorrow and will be taking The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Wild Sheep Chase with me.

Was the Mitchell review at the Guardian website?.. would be interested to read it.. I'm still randomly plugging away at Cloud Atlas. Have a good one! [%sig%]

Here Andrew.

Ta [%sig%]

Do you know what, this is the first Murakami I haven't finished... I normally eat up his stuff, and loved everything in The Elephant Vanishes collection of shorts. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it and should go back to it. I bought the new novel last week and haven't opened it yet. I did get loads of books for Christmas, so maybe that's why. I really want to be amazed again, the way I was when I read Wind-up Bird, or Wild Sheep Chase. I read a lot of good books last year, but nothing that really amazed me. I desperately hope I'm not getting old and cynical. I know I'm not, because Something Positive on the net amazed and delighted me at least once a month. Miss you, Drew! Andrew

I struggled with the ends of Dance Dance Dance, and Hard Boiled Wonderland. I love the short stories, but thought these were better than Elephant Vanishing ones. I'm going to get his new book to take on holiday.

Michael Casey 10 Reginald Rd Bearwood Warley B67 5AQ England Email michaelgcasey@hotmail.com Web http://msnusers.com/michaelcasey Internet Story © By Michael Casey So all I had to do was send an email , and then I’d be a writer , my book in every shop , my face smirking from cardboard cutouts of me holding my book aloft . My book had a great title , so it was bound to sell . A Nation Of Shopkeepers was a great title , if only people could remember their History , were people interested in History , and for that matter my book . It wasn’t a history book , would people think it WAS a history book , and then not buy it . It was a comedy drama , about a street of shops , interconnecting short stories , for all the family , but would people notice the levels , the strands of humour , or would they say it’s a Ma & Pa book , and miss the joke , just as one publisher called did ? I decided to keep the title , though I had a reserve title , The Butcher , The Baker and The Undertaker . Then I realised the US market would rename it The Butcher , The Baker And The Funeral Arranger . You don’t think about such things when you are writing the book , you’re just happy , on a roll , in love with your own intellect , or just surprized you actually DO have any intellect , then you discover that you are dyslexic , you really are dyslexic , thankfully not a really bad case , just dyslexic . As you proof read you see you have put BUT instead PUT , LEAD instead of READ , things like this and other strange things . Sure there are spellcheckers but or is it put , you have to check it anyway . As you read you are surprized at your own ability . You didn’t waste 4years in journalism school , but your writing is GOOD , Did I write that ? Then your chest filled with pride you get somebody else to read it , and guess what ? They think its crap . So now you have to decide , should I give up or should I carry on ? I gave up for as while , while is a unit of years in my case , my life took another path , so the writing was forgotten , it lay dormant for years , then like a phoenix it arose , or more truthfully , like a tortoise awaking from hibernation , sleep still in my eyes I slowly poked my head out , then back in , went back to sleep again , then finally with the pangs of hunger in my stomach I just had to do something . In my case it was eat , as in really eat , then I turned to my old Atari and realised it was not PC compatible , so I bought a new , or rather an old new Atari which was PC compatible . Then I spent a day copying my files so that I could read them on a PC . Then I wrote a few more pieces before I realised I’d get nowhere in England . The chances of being published were 1 in 2000 . So like a bear , I went back in my cave and slumbered . Meeting my wife Jing Jie was a turning point in my life , and not just because it was like Thunder as Jing Jie calls it , it was a turning point because I had a professional opinion on my writing , from a journalist at the very top of the tree . Her uncle is an editor in chief , so his comments were and are like gold , worth more than my first coffee and Cadbury’s chocolate , the pleasure rush I treat myself to every day , his comments really were that important to me , and I really DO like my Cadbury’s , so being better than Cadbury’s is the highest praise I can give . So I knew the quality of my writing , even if others said and say its crap . Getting a modern PC and internet connection was another turning point . Email in our house is like water and electic in any other homes . Jing Jie can “talk” to her mum in Shanghai every day . To friends all over the world as well . Birmingham IS the centre of the universe .So with hope and fear I had to transfer my files from my old Atari to the new PC . The floppy discs were old and battered , several were unreadable , finally my work , my babies were safely on the new PC . Just to be on the safe side I set up a website , so now my work was on somebody’s server in the US , thousands of miles away , safe from fire or theft . I could also put our new baby’s photos on the web site so that my Chinese family in Shanghai and Maimi and friends all over the world could see Annie and Jing Jie and me , they could even read my work too . So now all I had to do was market my work in the US , simple really , soon I’d be doing something useful with my life , making people laugh . I’d be a writing whore , I’d get paid to make others laugh , the best job in the world . So how would I set about it ? I got a list of radio stations from the internet and started sending emails galore . I’m talking in the hundreds now , to radio stations the length and breath of the US .They could publicise my site then eventually I’d get published , or my play would get produced . It was simple wasn’t it . So merrily I went about my business , sending emails galore . Years before I used to send off big heavy envelopes with my work in , with more persistance than hope in my heart .”Thank you for your pieces of paper“was the best put down . I once even met a writer and he agreed to to read my play Shoplife , then he wrote back calling me a plagerist , because it was so good . So I used his note as toilet paper , Shoplife was so good because I had 20years of experience given to me by my sister , I just improved on it , but yet I was called a Copyist , so naturally I was angry and used his note to wipe my bum . I wondered why my strike rate was so low with my emails to radio stations , then somebody casually mentioned , “You do know they will just delete anything with an attachment” . In these days of viruses or worms which I’ve discovered is the new trendy word , nobody can risk their PC , so I merrily send and they merrily delete . I’d been wasting my time , but not my money because I’d got a 24/7 package on my internet from AOL .However one radio station did read Shoplife . The DJ or is it Host , he called it hilarious and he could not stop reading it . It turned out he was an actor as well , though isn’t everybody an actor in the US ? So I thanked him , and quoted him in my future advertising .Humour is a funny thing . The things that make English people laugh are not the same as the things that make Americans’ laugh . We are constantly told by people on tv that English TV is the best in the world , the US material we see is the top 10% , the rest is rubbish . But I know I’d never get my foot in the door in England so I had to persist with my American campaign , so now I pasted in my material , no attachments . Just get them hooked , then paste in a sample then direct them to http://msnusers.com/michaelcasey Then bingo part2 of my life could begin ,I’d be the man that made America laugh , a naïve sentiment , but it was honest .Only AOL turns things into zip files and some people cann’t unzip your files , its like wanting sex but your zipper is broke and you cann’t get your trousers off . Such a strong urge , but no forfillment . I switched to MSMAIL and pasted in my stuff , things started to happen , my files weren’t being deleted or too zipped up to be read . At least I wasn’t frustrated any more . Now I had an agent interested , and a new magazine , even a theatre replied .All praise to Bill Gates , and to a Christian called Pat Verato who pointed me in the direction of a few good sites .However some of the sites that I trawled through were just , so very American . Hey , you too can be a writer , just send me 10 dollars and I’ll send you my book “How to make 10 dollars” , and he does . Then there’s magazines you can subscribe to , yes you’ve guessed it , just send another 10 dollars “Writing for Beginners” . There’s all these agents too who are so successful , persuading tap dancing bus drivers to write about Tap Dancing For Bus Drivers , the complete self help book , costs 10 dollars . The agent gets 20percent , and the bus driver pays 5000dollars to print 500 copies , then he can boast he’s a writer , not just a bus driver , and guess what if you pay 10 dollars you can learn to tap dance too . As for me , what do I think of all this ? I’d say just keep on writing , stop your selling , or attempts at selling , just write a bit . Add to your catologue of 3 poems and 2 short stories , then search for an agent . Believe you’ll never be published and then you won’t be disappointed. There is one final thing you can do though , just tell everybody to go to http://msnusers.com/michaelcasey And help find a publisher for my book , and then you’ve guessed it , just send me 10 dollars ! End

Never heard of him till last week when I got "South Of The Border, West Of The Sun" out of the library. Absolutely beautiful story of love and male mid-life crisis (and wonderfully translated, doesn't read like a translation at all) - I'll certainly look out for the rest. It's always thrilling to find a "new" writer and discover that they've written a whole load of books!

The Wild Sheep Chase Neil, then Elephant Vanishes, then Wind-up Bird Chronicle (that's my suggested order to read them - Wind-up Bird is the best, but it is daunting, the other two are nice fun warm-ups). Don't listen to anyone who advises Norweigan Wood - it's good, but lacks Murakami's normal inventiveness, flash and humour.

I think I'll read Wind Up next. People say that's the best. I agree about Norweigan Wood. I've had the book on my shelf and it doesn't look interesting at all.

What a load of crap... fear is in the mind indeed! How you westerners lurrrv crap dished by the east.... hey try some karmic pranayama? wanna know more about it? read my bestseller.... what a buncha sad li'l no-brainers...

hey -- what happened? did i scare u scarecrows off -- HYUKHYUKHYUK!

Er.. yes.. I think it's possible that you DID scare them off. Why don't you post something on Karmic Pranayama, in detail, if you feel it's an important element in the whole scheme of things?.. I don't know anything about it.. and would be quite happy to learn more if you were willing. But I don't see the point in going on about it in quite an interesting thread on Murakami. UNLESS you could actually argue for why it relates to Murakami without descending into this childish bilge you seem to constantly spout. I spent some time living in Kobe, the place where Murakami grew up.. and I spoke to a lot of people who were affected by the earthquake too.. which is probably why I've chosen to take a slice of umbrage at Rita's comments. I HAVEN'T read the book.. but I do think I have a sense of where it's coming from. It's definitely on my list. I read 'Underground' (about the Tokyo Gas Attacks) ..it's a really, fascinating, informing read about the affects on Japanese culture. A perfect model for you, Rita, if you chose to properly relate your experiences without making weapons of them. [%sig%]

I'm now reading Jay Rubin's book on Murakami. A few people mentioned I was a bit like Murakami (before I'd read him and of course about 200 times worse), and I can see from reading this we are calling from the same places; Vonnegut, Brautigan, Carver, Chandler. There's a nice story about Murakami meeting Carver, and then Carver was planning to come over to Japan and Murakami bought him an extra large bed, but unfortunately Carver died before he could make the trip. The best thing about the work though is the translations of Murakami's works that aren't available yet in English.