“In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount.” ―
“Let me tell you something, Mari. The ground we stand on looks solid enough, but if something happens it can drop right out from under you. And once that happens, you've had it: things' ll never be the same. All you can do is go on, living alone down there in the darkness...”
―
Haruki
Murakami style is a mixture of enchanted surrealism, magical realism, collage style
between real-unreal, dream world and fantasy. Even so his works are reminders
of amazing multi layers labyrinth – where the reader comes and finds many lost,
hidden and mysterious things – objects of sub-conscious mind. That makes Murakami
really magical and provocative to read, it takes you to another level of
consciousness, something that you are not sure if it`s part of your symbols, or
reality.
Some of
the whimsical surreal, mystical elements in his novels are: cats, the sea,
water, room space, inner space, windows, glass, faces, eyes, hotels...all of
them are special signs pointing to the reader in the labyrinth.
Dreams,
inner mind, flow of consciousness and spontaneous emotions are also part of his
narrative style.
His
stories are always with depth, and secrets, revealed under multiple surfaces.
The surface of what we call “reality” and normal life is always very fragile,
fluid and easy to move from one place to another. As if we step on a thin ice,
that reveals what happens under it, in the frozen cold waters beneath.
That’s
why Murakami`s books are dream-like surreal stories, in which always personages
change and can face unexpected, amazing transformations. Faces of characters
are also changeable and fluid. They cant be fixed, and if they are fixed as a
mask, that shows something is hidden, or the presence of unknown, untouchable,
vulnerable essence. Under the mask-face.
For the
advanced readers Murakami plays with myths, which we can find in most of his
novels. Myths are connected exactly with the depths of sub-consciousness. And
also with another world, “beyond”. Some special connotations contain darkness
and light, reality, hyper reality, other side, existence of something that cant
be named or comprehended is always there.
That’s
why his works look like a deep sea, ocean, under it we could find so many
treasures, but also we can read” the meaning of these treasures like a book. That’s
the hypnotizing effect of his great novels.
Murakami
always likes playing with layers of subconsciousness and symbols, that helps
him to press a sensitive cords in reader soul. He is not just telling a story,
not just provoking the mind. His works have often effect of mixed up puzzle
pieces, that needs to be collect together into meaningful picture. Then he just
wants to point out the change of reality, when we just view one separate small
piece, and the whole picture from above. He plays with time layers, the concept
of time and space that are mixed up and misshapen, out of his actual form. All
that element of mosaic structure stories are revealed slowly in “After Dark”.
The actual darkness of the night takes metaphorical sense as darkness inside
each of us, darkness of the untouchable spaces of under mind. After dark/
darkness comes the light. Man goes always with his shadow and cant escape from
it. We need to accept our shadow side and its existence.
Other
magical symbols present in the novel: dream, darken room, sleep,
other world reality, cats. Many spaces (hotel, bar) are filled with his
favourite sounds of jazz. That also has effect of awakening of soul, of special
point of realizing something beyond understanding, or of transition to
different space.
The two
sisters (Mari and Eri Asai) represent the two side of one and the same face –
like disk, one is awaken in the night, thinking about life, and living from
this side, with her own pains, she is in the world. Another is always from
another side, with asleep mind, in the space beyond, which we can call death or
unknown zone. That is the space no one can penetrate, also she will be
completely separated from the visible world. She is there and her connections
with reality are blocked.
But
they don’t represent the aspects of Light and darkness. Both of them hold
darkness and shadow faces, and both of them want to go somehow to the side of
another. They cant meet during that time. There is a veil of illusion and fog
between them. They cant talk, or be in the same space. In the novel they are in
separate places.
While
Mari is aware of her presence and should deal with her emotions, the other is
not aware of her presence, she lives like ghost, far away in another room, in
different reality, projected in her television.
About Murakami:
Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1949 (12. Jan), attended Waseda university (Drama and literature), where he met his wife Yoko. After 1974 he opened a jazz club (Peter Cat), where he could enjoy his passion for jazz music and records. His first nover he wrote in 1979 "Hear the Wind Sing", which brought him amazing success and prize.
This work was followed by:
"A Wild Sheep chase" (1982)
"Dance, Dance, Dance"
"Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" (1985)
"Norwegian Wood" (1987) (and my first book of Murakami)
"The Wind up Bird Chronicle" (1995)
"Sputnik Sweetheart" (1999)
"Kafka on the Shore" (2002) (One of my favorite books!)
"After Dark" (2007)
"1Q84" Trilogy (2009)
"Colourless Tzukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage" (2013)
He was influenced from Western authors like: Raymond Chandler, Franz Kafka, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Breutigan, Salinger, Fyodor Dostoevsky...
Quotes from the book:
“I do
feel that I’ve managed to make something I could maybe call my world…over
time…little by little. And when I’m inside it, to some extent, I feel kind of
relieved. But the very fact I felt I had to make such a world probably means
that I’m a weak person, that I bruise easily, don’t you think? And in the eyes
of society at large, that world of mine is a puny little thing. It’s like a
cardboard house: a puff of wind might carry it off somewhere.”
My evaluation of the novel: It`s one of my favourites, I m giving it five stars ★★★★★
My evaluation of the novel: It`s one of my favourites, I m giving it five stars ★★★★★
© Nina Nour
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