[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 13 KB, 340x250, author.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3777356 No.3777356 [Reply] [Original]

Why do hipsters and pseudo-intellectuals love him all of a sudden?

>> No.3777359

>>3777356
Because he's deep, edgy and Japanese.

>> No.3777362

He's been writing excellent books for about 30 years now. Just because you don't like the people who read it doesn't mean his work isn't good.

A bunch of psuedo-intellectuals like Joyce , too, but that doesn't invalidate him or his work.

>> No.3777365

Because of his gargantuan 50" flaccid penis

>> No.3777369

>>3777362
I'm a fan of him myself.

I'm not trying to invalidate or devalue his work, I'm just curious as to where the recent buzz in that demographic came from.

>> No.3777374

Because hipsters and pseudo-intellectuals are trying to frustrate everyone and make us hate what we once enjoyed. I have a pair of brown slip on loafers that I love wearing. They are comfortable and clean, but they make me look like a hipster so my family has been riding me about it. My jacket was stolen and a little after I visited my grandmother. She noticed I didn't have a jacket and it was really cold out so she decided to give me my grandfather's. Now I wear my grandpa's jacket and look like a "hipster" because they're so into wearing hand-me-downs

>> No.3777375

>>3777362
>being reasonable
>2013
shiggydiggy

>> No.3777373

>>3777369
Well, that's easily answered. 1Q84's cover art.

>> No.3777382 [DELETED] 

>>3777374
I think they just want to look different. And, in trying to look different, looking more and more the same.

There's a quote about how "intellectuals," in trying to make themselves needlessly different, instead make themselves similar to everyone else. Same thing here.

>> No.3777389

>>3777374
I don't think they're deliberately trying to frustrate anyone. They're each just so anxious to look different, they end up the looking the same.

>> No.3777406

>>3777356
>all of a sudden

>>3777369
>recent buzz

you're over ten years late, smartass. i'm not kidding either. he really blew up with wind up bird which was published in english in 1998. it was a big seller and even some contemporary jap lit professors used it or elephant vanishes. that's why this thread is retarded. if anything, why did you get on the bandwagon so late? therein lies your answer.

hai guise what's with the recent popularity of don quickoates, eh? it's like people are saying it's good now and it's weird. it makes one wonder.

>> No.3777417

>>Why do hipsters and pseudo-intellectuals love him all of a sudden?

Because they must have This Month's Mostly Artificial Fad ... next month it will be someone else.

>> No.3777427

>>3777362
>Joyce
shiggydick

>> No.3777433

>>3777356
>Why do hipsers and pseudo-intellectuals love what I love? ç_ç

>> No.3777451

its lit for ppl that watched studio ghibli movies

>> No.3777456

>>3777451
Yeah, those scum. How dare they...enjoy masterful storytelling and crisp animation.

Those fuckers.

>> No.3777464

>>3777456
This.

/lit/ you are too angry.

>> No.3777480

Murakami is hipster?

i've only read three books by him. But is every MC of his he writes the same? He doesn't seem to change his tone.

>> No.3777527

>>3777480
Not completely. They do tend to be about young men who 1) enjoy cooking, 2) are inordinately attractive to women, and 3) have certain nervous ticks.

But his works are almost always ensemble pieces. After Dark is a good example of his range, as most of the characters are female. Although, to be fair, it's not nearly his best work. Aomame from 1Q84, despite how despised that book is here for some reason, is a really fleshed-out female main character.

>> No.3777538

where to start with him?

>> No.3777543

>all of a sudden?
did you start reading books all of a sudden yesterday?

>> No.3777548

>>3777538
Kafka on the Shore. It's the one I started with. Have since bought and read Wind-up Bird, After Dark, 1Q84, Hard Boiled Wonderland, and am currently on Norwegian Wood.

Point is, he's a goddamn wizard and I'm hooked on his prose. I'd start with Kafka. Embodies some of his strangest. 1Q84 also isn't a bad starting point, even though its not his best. Emphasizes some of his key themes.

>> No.3777552

>>3777548
>I'm hooked on his prose
I hope you're reading in Japanese then.

>> No.3777566

>>3777552
Well then I'm hooked on his translator's prose.

Why split hairs? I'm sure you enjoy Borges well enough in english. If his genius can be translated, then Murakami's style of writing hast to keep at least some of its original form.

>> No.3777572

>>3777548
thanks

>> No.3777590

>>3777527
The 50th time he talked about her pubic hair was too much.

>> No.3777594

Did anyone read his book about running? Thoughts? I liked the non-fiction book about the subway attack.

>> No.3777606

>>3777590
In my opinion you can never talk too much about pubic hair.

And, again, I think he was trying to emphasize that Aomame's physical imperfections dominated a lot of her thought and showed it through repetition.

>> No.3777607

>>3777594
Not yet. Which book specifically are you talking about? I'll be sure to get on that over the summer sometime.

>> No.3777608

>>3777356

/lit/ is my only fucking source for hipsters and pseudos supposedly making a big fuss about murakami. I have never met any. He was hugely popular worldwide before this occured, if it did at all.

I enjoy his work a great deal and even if it is true that an undesirable crowd have popularised him in some circles, that is not a reason to hate on the author.

>> No.3777624

>>3777552
b-b-but he's known in japan for being heavily influenced by american minimalism. he's even said he wouldn't write the way he does without raymond carver's works.

>>3777594
the book about running was mediocre. my least favorite murakami book. underground...the book about the subway gas attacks was really awesome.

>> No.3777644

>>3777607
What I Talk about When I Talk about Running.

The one I read is Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, which I liked a lot, but I'm an oldfag and remember when it happened.

>> No.3777665

>>3777644
Ah, okay. Haven't hit any of his non-fiction stuff yet, although there are long passages in Wind-Up Bird about actual events in Manchuria during WWII.

I'll make sure to check both out.

>> No.3777723

>>3777566
>I'm sure you enjoy Borges well enough in english
Not that guy but for the sake of exactitude: there are english translations out there done by Borges himself in colaboration with someone else. Technically it's still Borges' prose. Not the case with Murakami. Extra info: Murakami prose sucks in Spanish. Two different translators for 1q84 and they both sound stiff

>> No.3777728

>>3777356
The titles are funny.

>> No.3777739

>>3777723
No, you're right. I forgot about that. Still, the sharpness of his prose never fails to catch me, even in english. I think it goes to show that, even reflected and transmuted, the man's a master.

>> No.3777820

>>3777739
Yeah, he's one of the very few people I've read that gets away with using the erudite tone. He's one of two writers in Spanish I've read that gets away with using it without making me feel like it's forced.

>> No.3777880

>>3777456
I meant that with the least amount of anger. I love studio ghibli

>> No.3777898

>>3777362
why did you sage? you answered with an on-topic response. do you even know what the basis for a sage is?

>> No.3777909

>>3777898
>everyone uses sage the same way and I actually believe the stories passed around here about it's original motive

>> No.3777922

I like him. I'm actually about to get and tattoos based off his books. :-)

>> No.3777933

>>3777898
I guess he doesn't want to bump the thread because he holds his post as not significant enough to do such a thing.

>> No.3777949

>>3777898
Please don't pull that bullshit about the "original meaning" of sage on the Japanese imageboards. Sage doesn't bump - that's it. That's all it does. Don't read too deep into it, peoples' motives for saging vary from post to post.

>> No.3777956

>>3777922
>guaranteed replies

>> No.3777961

>>3777956

True. I'm not lying though.

>> No.3777967
File: 180 KB, 404x416, 1368217926019.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3777967

>>3777961
>i double 'em guaranteed replies

>> No.3777978

>>3777967

I also plan on getting the crab from the cover of Tropic of Cancer

>> No.3777998

>>3777898
I saged because it seemed like a stupid troll thread. Turns out the guy just didn't express himself fully, asking a genuine question. It seems like it's heading towards shit now though.

Hence, sage.

>> No.3778018

I'm thinking of choosing 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' as my first time reading Murakami.

Is it one of his better works?

>> No.3778044

>>3778018
Yeah, but being one of Murakami's better works is still worse than being, say, Faulkner's shittiest work. So tread lightly with relative statements like that.

It's like saying "The book by Coelho that WON'T make you wish you had your money back!"

You might want to read some excerpts on-line before committing.

>> No.3778056

>>3778044
What's sad about that statement is that while it's true, Faulkner's also just plain bad.

>> No.3778064

>>3778056
Whether or not you can dig Faulky baby, he's still head and shoulders above Murakami.

Pretend he's from Minnesota and see how awesome his prose is, if you're prone to reading him while wearing weeaboo-tinted glasses.

>> No.3778068

>>3778018
Don't listen to
>>3778044
>>3778056

Murakami is genuinely good. You don't need to set him against famous authors in some sad dick-waving contest. His work is strange and beautiful and worth reading.

That said, I don't think Wind-Up Bird is a good place to start. Try Kafka on the Shore or Norwegian Wood. Both are extremely accessible, although Wood doesn't contain some of the mystical elements that his other work is characterized by. Take your pick.

>> No.3778073

>>3778064
While your at it, read Kafka and pretend he's from Los Angeles. Also, read Hemingway and pretend he's from Moldavia.

Do you see where this is going?

>> No.3778075

>>3778073
Yes, I do. Kafka and Hemingway would still hold up, regardless of where they were from.

Murakami wouldn't.

>> No.3778077

He stole my idea of artistically altering the page numbers.

>> No.3778082

>>3778068

This but dont read Norwegian Wood at all unless you decide you like him and have already read all his other fiction. It's well written but not as entertaining and doesnt follow his regular bizarre themes.

>> No.3778099

>>3778075
You're telling me that you can really picture Kafka, who lived his entire life lived in Prague's cramped, miasma-filled alleyways, writing as if he lived in Los Angeles? Can you even picture Hemingway without living in America?

For some writers, their homeland is important. You can't simply separate Joyce's work from Ireland, for example. (Even though he lived in exile almost all of his life.) In the same way, you can't separate Murakami from Japan. It isn't a way to "objectively' measure prose because it literally cant be done without changing the prose entirely.

>> No.3778115

>>3778099
Dude, not that guy, but Murakami is a hipster who wishes he was J.D. Saringer. His Western schtick is precisely why he's popular with Japanese faggots.

From a Japanese perspective, Murakami's the fucker citing obscure Western shit that Japanese people don't know about or don't give a fuck about, all in the name of kakkotsuketeru.

You take away the gimmick, and the fact that he's Japanese, you have a mediocre writer. What he does, if done by an American, a writer starting out, would not sell. Especially in the U.S.

>> No.3778131

>>3778115
I disagree. While I get that he's kind of a western name-dropper, his stories are genuinely enchanting and worthwhile.

It's not like he doesn't understand the references he's using or just throws them in for fun. Again, you can't take away the fact that he's Japanese because it's so core to his art. Take away the fact Walt Whitman was American. What happens? Who the fuck knows. Because you can't do it. (I realize that Murakami isn't Whitman in terms of importance or skill, but I would say that Japan is as important to Murakami's weirdness as America is to Whitman's transcendence.)

>> No.3778199

>>3777359

but Kawabata is even deeper and edgier

>> No.3778244

>>3778099
>>3778131
You're missing the whole point. It's not that Murakami is the only author to ever enjoy the luxury of being intertwined with his homeland--it's that Murakami's books are read because he IS from his homeland.

It's not that people read Kafka because he's from Prague. It would be ridiculous to even assert this, and that is not the argument. The argument is that Murakami is a pandering fool who is mostly popular because he's found a niche: the glorious nippon author who is "like, totally accessable and weird! Think a Japanese lovechild of Borges and Raymond Carver!!!" and is duly billed as such.

>> No.3778248

>>3778131
It just feels so cheap, you know? He's reacting to the old Japan, being hip and looking to the West for inspiration. Aside from pornographic descriptions and talking about how big his fictional dick is, he just reads like a Japanese guy so desperate to mimic and attain the status of his Western heroes. He admires them so much, that he's replicated his own career based on them. (Salinger, Chandler, Fitzgerald, etc.) Especially Salinger. The elusive writer with a teenage classic, a coming of age novel that Japan approves because fuck yeah, I'm Haruki Salinger.

What I'm saying is, this whole being from Japan and writing about tentacle rape and being weird, I don't rate that aspect of national influence.

Kafka and Prague, Jew, turbulent times in Czechoslovakia.

Beckett and Ireland. Shit, Joyce and Ireland.

Washington Irving and America. Steinbeck, another one.

I'm just more harsh on the Japanese thing because I grew up there and consider many things that the West views as weird as not as shocking. I mean, I'm fucked up when it comes to porn, thanks Japan, but it's just not something I view as a national characteristic.

I can't imagine an Italian writer being popular because of his temper and how that's essential to his writing. Or a German being praised for his stale sense of humor in his writing. Traits like that shouldn't be substituted for national and regional ties.

And another part is that Murakami's popularity is precisely because of how the West views Japan as a weird place and his shit just validates that stereotype. I mean, fuck, who the fuck wants to be known for how weird his subject matter is rather than his writing talent?

I rambled. You kind of get my point.

To your examples, you're right. But I guess my point is that when it comes to how strongly each writer's nationality is woven into and affects his work, Murakami is weaker than Whitman. Or, in Murakami's case, it's less significant, him being Japanese.

>> No.3778252

>>3778244
Yeah, this guy also touches on what I wanted to say.

>> No.3778276 [DELETED] 
File: 1.73 MB, 200x135, 1369083895874.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3778276

>this thread

>> No.3778283
File: 53 KB, 500x259, tumblr_meybjn7snS1r46fnpo1_500-1.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3778283

>>3778248
I read him for his lost characters and his ventures into the unknown. Not because he's "weird". I'm a sucker for lost souls and forlorn love. He does these well. That's why I love Sputnik Sweetheart so much. Hardly his best work but his metaphor of humans as satellites still floors me. I adore it.

>> No.3778286 [DELETED] 
File: 31 KB, 960x640, 1361599653491.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3778286

>>3778283
Damn dude.

>> No.3778292

>>3778283
Nice. If people could explain themselves like you do, there would be a lot less butthurt about Murakami. That's a perfectly reasonable answer.

>> No.3778300

i notice my girlfriends reading him, lol as soon as i saw this i glanced over the bed and there was after the quake. to be honest i haven't read in a while and went on here to find some suggestions. we talked last night on how he may or may not have intentionally touched up on transcendental idealism, which she was telling me one story, reminded her of whos seen the wind. i also noticed a coworker reading his stuff is it actually good?

>> No.3778327

>>3778300
He's like a name brand that's accessible. Something people can pick up and be proud that they read a book written by a 'writer.' It's like a Mario Batali pasta sauce. Kind of expensive, tastes pretty good, but there are better ones out there for a better price.

>> No.3778335

>>3778327

I hate this argument so much. I describe him as a Japanese Vonnegut. I'm more ways then one. Baby's first lit but still essential reading.

>> No.3778351

>>3778335
Ahh, I thought about using Vonnegut, but I didn't. Because I think Murakami is lower than Vonnegut.

>> No.3778353

>>3777356
I only read Wind-up Bird so far. I really like his ability to make such a slice of life manner interesting. His characters, in my opinion, are just amazing: complex, yet simple. Basic human motivation that's explored well in the novel.
>>3778131
>>3778283
Also, these.

>> No.3778374

My girlfriend likes him, but I wouldn't say she falls into those categories as she's Japanese. She convinced me to read Kafka on the Shore, but I haven't really had a desire to read any more of his books.

>> No.3778388

>>3778351
Murakami is the Japanese Coelho.

>> No.3778409

itt: highschoolers

>> No.3778429

>>3778388
Ohhh. Spot on. Thanks for that. Also nice dubs.

>> No.3778787

>>3778244
>Murakami is only read because he's Japanese

Okay. I don't think that's even close to being true. Maybe some of his popularity has to do with his homeland, but to just say "oh, well he's only liked because he's from X" seems to me to be the most uncharitable thing anyone could ever say about an author. Not to mention one of the most unspecific and out-of-touch with reality. People like Murakami because he writes good fiction. It's not the best, and I never said it was. But it's very, very good.

>>3778248
I understand where your coming from, but, to me, his prose doesn't seem desperate in the slightest. His stories hold a sort of mythic, intangible quality for me not only in the plot he writes about but also how he presents it. It's from the author, and, while Japan is inextricably linked to that, it's main source is from him. I think he's known for both his writing talent and subject matter, inseparable as they are. (I tried my best to say that Whitman was more significant in order to avoid getting that "you think Murakami is better than Whitman??" response.)

>> No.3778815

>>3778327
>Murakami
>Pasta Sauce
I see what you did there. It all comes back to Murakami and spaghetti, doan it?

>> No.3778817

>>3778388
No,he isn't.

Coelho is way too spiritual.

I say he's the Japanese Kafka -- especially considering The Rat Trilogy.

>> No.3778825

Because he's a good writer who isn't hard to read...

>> No.3779022

>>3777356
>all of a sudden
Are you a timetraveler from the 90's? Some advice from a futurebro: invest in Google and Apple while you still can.

>> No.3779059

>>3777594
It nice little semi-memoir. You can't get wrong with it if you enjoy Murakami and running.

Personally I enjoyed it much more than Underground. Underground was interesting but I expected bit more than just pure collection of interviews with victims/perpetrators. There were only like two pages of his input.

>> No.3779115

>>3778244
>Japanese lovechild of Borges and Raymond Carver!!!
I hope they disinherited him

>> No.3779434

>>3779059

I want to read it because I'm planning on doing my first marathon This fall.

>> No.3781434
File: 219 KB, 424x625, seneca.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3781434

>>3777898
Because he reads too much stoicism.

>> No.3781445

>>3777427
>disliking joyce
you may go back to your g rr martin

>> No.3781454

>>3778073
Read Cervantes and pretend he's from France.

>> No.3781457

>>3778115
>What he does, if done by an American, a writer starting out, would not sell. Especially in the U.S.
So what?

>> No.3781729

What are the requirements to be an actual intellectual?

>> No.3781734

>>3781729
intellect

>> No.3781751

>>3778199
How is Kawabata in anyway edgy?

>> No.3781764

>all of a sudden

Since like at least 2009

>> No.3781765

>>3781734
What qualifies as intellect?