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This book provides interdisciplinary perspectives on the work of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, with a particular focus on the conceptual material of his work. It seeks to answer the following questions: Is there any philosophic material or concepts in the work of Haruki Murakami? If so, why are they important? Does philosophic engagement add anything to the Murakami research field? Equally, does Murakami s fiction present us with anything valuable for the field of philosophy?
The volume uniquely develops the field of Murakami studies through acting as a forum for interdisciplinary researchers to share their perspective on his work. Importantly, it furthers the conversation on Murakami s philosophic value and through doing so, is a must-read not only for those interested in Japanese literature or culture, but also for those interested in the productive space existing at the intersection of philosophy, literature, and psychoanalysis.
List of contents
1 Introduction.- Part I Reflections.- 2 A Very Philosophical Murakami.- 3 A Matter of Life and Death: The Philosophy of Haruki Murakami .- 4 Run away as far as you want. I will always be there. On Murakami s Unstable Walls.- 5 Aesthetics of In-Between Chronotope in the Works of Haruki Murakami.- 6 Murakami and his cosmopolitan commitment in the era of Walls.- 7 Thoughts about Haruki Murakami, Running, and Writing.- 8 Criticisms of Her What Says He? Murakami s Gender Philosophy.- 9 Haruki Murakami s 7 Stories: It s quite easy to become Men Without Women .- 10 Philosophical Studies on Murakami?.- 11 Past Colours, past Boundaries, past Psychology. Existential Liberation in the Fiction of Haruki Murakami.- 12 Memory in Murakami s Norwegian Wood and IQ84: a Phenomenological Hermeneutic and Deconstructive analysis.- 13 The Empty Signifier That is Murakami.- 14 No Special Significance: Murakami s Semiotics of Love.- Part II Main Articles.- 15 How Murakami Uses Philosophy: Aesthetics and Ethics; Consciousness and Action.- 16 Exploring Hear the Wind Sing as an initial story: Encounter with Derek Hartfield as the starting point for Haruki Murakami.- 17 The Art of Being: Haruki Murakami s Killing Commendatore and Kierkegaardian Existentialism.- 18 Haruki Murakami: An Existential Perspective on Personality and Individuality in selected novels.- 19 Norwegian Wood and the emergence of Murakamian Existentialism.- 20 Haruki Murakami and Conceptual Personae: Fuzzy Authorship and The Sheep Man.
About the author
Joseph Thomas Milburn is Director of Studies and Head of Philosophy at Rochester Independent College, UK. He lectures on Philosophy and Jungian Psychoanalysis at the University of Sofia. Joseph previously edited a special issue on the work of Haruki Murakami for In Statu Nascendi (2022), published by Ibidem Press.
Summary
This book provides interdisciplinary perspectives on the work of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, with a particular focus on the conceptual material of his work. It seeks to answer the following questions: Is there any philosophic material or concepts in the work of Haruki Murakami? If so, why are they important? Does philosophic engagement add anything to the Murakami research field? Equally, does Murakami’s fiction present us with anything valuable for the field of philosophy?
The volume uniquely develops the field of Murakami studies through acting as a forum for interdisciplinary researchers to share their perspective on his work. Importantly, it furthers the conversation on Murakami’s philosophic value and through doing so, is a must-read not only for those interested in Japanese literature or culture, but also for those interested in the productive space existing at the intersection of philosophy, literature, and psychoanalysis.
