Every 14 Days...(4)

after the quake (Murakami Haruki)

Given the end to my recent holiday to Japan, ‘after the quake’ seemed an appropriate next Murakami book to read. And so I did, being that I’d left my copy of ‘The Elephant Vanishes’ in Solihull.

Contained are six short stories about six different Japanese and how the Kobe earthquake of 1995 impacted on their lives. Delightfully weird and wonderful, the stories are full of metaphors – most of which I’m not sure I fully understand – reflecting the very individual impact that the natural disaster can have, despite being a nationally tragic event.

Designed to show changing times among the people of modern Japan through the inner-turmoil of the main characters, Murakami shows how such an event will impact on everyone in some way, however it manifests itself. From my own experience, despite the recent Fukushima earthquake impacting on thousands upon thousands, meeting individuals made it feel like a very individual event, with all having their own experiences, and after the quake shows as much, in its own unique way.

Days to read: 12
Days per book: 15.5



Hell Screen (Akutagawa Ryunosuke)

Taken from his Rashomon and Other Stories collection (the one that I do not own), ‘Hell Screen’ is a small, literally pocket-sized short, telling the story of a crazed artist, tasked with painting a screen depicting the Eight Buddhist Hells for His Lordship. Focusing on the artist, Yoshihide, and his unconventional techniques, ‘Hell Screen’ serves as a typically old-fashioned parable about the dangers of all-consuming passion and questioning one’s superiors.

A great storyteller, ‘Hell Screen’ is among Akutagawa’s finest works and brilliantly paints a haunting image, not only the screen itself, but also in the mind of the man that created it.

Followed by the incredibly short ‘The Spider Thread’, another Hell-themed parable, it makes for a captivating read about medieval Japan.

Days to read: 1
Days per book: 14.7



Kusamakura (Natsume Soseki)

Kusamakura is the second novel of the hundred years ago Japanese writer Natsume Soseki. The self-narrated story of a wandering artist from Tokyo as he travels through Japan’s mountains, it is an internal monologue as to debates about art and poetry, as the artist seeks for new inspiration in his work. From this, the story is littered with haiku and other poetry as the artist tries to capture distinct moments.

In terms of plot or story, there is little here; it is merely a wandering man and the conversations he has with himself – around art – and the locals that he meets. As with the other Soseki novel that I have read, it is very much of the time it was written, with references to the Russo-Japanese war and his contempt for it. What is within the lines is a comment on how a move from isolation is now apparent in Japan and how this is extending to those isolated in the countryside, with one of his new companions now off to become a soldier at the book’s close.

Kusamakura serves as a haiku to capture a moment in time, painting a picture with words.

Days to read: 14
Days per book: 14.2



The Elephant Vanishes (Murakami Haruki)

Started on my penultimate day in Japan (the actual one, not the original, budgeted one), this collection of short stories travelled back with me to London, and then up to Birmingham, where I accidentally left it at my mate’s newly bought house before going to watch Villa play a dull and lifeless draw against Stoke City Rugby Football Club. It did, therefore, take me a while to make my way through this strange and bizarre book of stories about the weird and wonderful.

The second collection of shorts by Murakami that I have read takes works from various publications that he has written over the years and leaves a mixed bag of offerings; some outright weird, others too strange to comprehend the intended meaning. All different, this is almost like flicking through Miike Takashi’s oeuvre, creating intrigue and confusion in the reader, but not always satisfaction.

Days to read: 89
Days per book: 13.9