Paper Details

Abstract: The novels of Haruki Murakami dichotomise the prewar and postwar postwar Japan and establish linearity between the two by showing that postwar Japan is a mere continuum of the prewar imperialistic state. In these novels, he shows that the postwar narrative of growth and development immediately after the war was an attempt by the authoritarian state to erase its war memories—memories of its brutal expeditions in the East-Asian region and the subsequent defeat. However, the postwar youths who knew the war but did not experience it first-hand could not find linearity and failed to conform to the state-sponsored ideals of collectivism. As a result, they often remained isolated or psychologically unstable. From this state of psychological instability, the characters of Haruki Murakami undertake an odyssey that eventually leads to a confrontation with history. In this chapter, I have assessed the postwar condition of Japanese youths as represented in the works of Haruki Murakami and how historical awareness helps them to reconcile with themselves.

flesh-ism, history, historiography, memory