Monday, July 11, 2011

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Murakami Haruki (Part 2)

I've always thought there's something weird about Murakami's Vintage covers. The US releases are these blocky, colorful things with close-ups of people's faces. (The one for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman even features an ear.)

The version I have, however, is the UK version, which has a minimalistic, Japonisme-style cover. Almost all their covers, with the exception of After Dark, are simple and mostly-white. If the American releases invoke the strangeness of his stories, the British versions invoke the quiet, simple way he writes.

Now that I've said my peace, let's look at the next three stories in Blind Willow, "Aeroplane", "The Mirror", and "A Folklore for My Generation". All three of these stories involve a man recollecting an event from his youth. Only "The Mirror" has nothing to do with women. And none of them mentions the ear, which makes me very sad.



- "Aeroplane: Or, How He Talked to Himself as if Reciting Poetry"

The man in the story doesn't know why he is in an affair with the woman, which peeved me off a bit. 'You say you have nothing in common, you don't even talk to each other, you're just together, so why!' I might or might not have screamed at him. But I think I can understand why.

They're both sad, unhappy saps. She cries and uses him as a shoulder to sob on. He is formless and still looking for somewhere else to be. His heart was building an aeroplane, somewhere far away, and even if he didn't know he was talking to himself about the aeroplane, he'd rather be in the sky, flying, living.

Excuse me while I have myself a little cry.

Favorite line: She seemed to have lifted the edge of the world, and now she was loosening its threads little by little - perfunctorily, apathetically, as if she had to do it no matter how long it might take.


- "The Mirror"

The speaker is telling a story to a group of people. They have been spending the time telling stories about scary and strange things that had happened to them. He say that his story has nothing to do with ghosts and things of that sort, though I think there is a bit of the supernatural in his story.

They say what you are your own worst enemy, and your own worst nightmare. To find it literally true would scare the crap out of anyone, I guess, even the protagonist. He paints himself as young and cocksure at the time the event took place, which brings up another point.

Now, if only I was smart enough to make it. (I'll try, anyway.)

There's a point where all of us stop being confident young people with no fear and no problems and become much more interested with safety and security. We become a part of adult society, never to go back to that reckless youth. For him, it was the moment he saw himself in that mirror.

PS. It is a pretty scary story.

Favorite line: Inside it was a hatred like an iceberg floating in a dark sea.


- "A Folklore for My Generation: A Prehistory of Late-Stage Capitalism"

The story starts with Murakami's take on the sixties, and how present day doesn't have the same sort of 'special' quality. It's pretty thought-provoking, but I think most things Murakami writes is just that.

The folklore itself is a story the writer heard from an old high school classmate he ran into one day when they were both in their 30's (whether I am referring to the narrator/writer in the story or Murakami himself, I'm not sure). He tells 'Murakami' about his relationship with his high school girlfriend. Both were straight-lace types, good grades, natural leaders, the cream of the crop. They never had sex, however, and she promised him that after she was married and lost her virginity, she would sleep with him.

This is a long, sad story. He spends years trying to deal with his unfulfilled feelings for the girl, and when the chance finally arrives...

It's filled with regret, on both of their parts. She seemed to know from the beginning they would be unhappy with the end result, but she was convinced that her decisions were the right ones. (Or, at the very least, she was trying to convince herself of it.)

And now, I'll try to read some slash in the story. Let's see: After all the eating and drinking, the writer and his old classmate go back to the hotel. The writer's wife had just gone back to Japan, and the classmate is in Italy on business and OH GOD I FEEL SO DIRTY ITS MURAKAMI DAMN YOU!!!

I might not try that again in the future.

Favorite line: The last two.


Next time, I'll be tackling "Hunting Knife", "A Perfect Day for Kangaroos", and "Dabchick".

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