Murakami's Feline Fascination

 https://www.thegreatcat.org/cats-20th-century-cats-literature-haruki-murakami/

This article, written by LA Vocelle, does a really nice job collating a number of references to cats in Murakami's writings, as well as how cats have influenced him in his life. I'd highly suggest reading the whole thing, but I'll talk about a couple parts I found particularly interesting here.

This first bit is quick, but I think it's a fun little piece of real-life experience that inspired a bit in A Wild Sheep Chase. The article mentions an essay called "Choju Neko no Himistsu" which Murakami wrote about going on a trip. Before going, he asked a high ranking official at a publishing company to take care of his cat while he was gone. In exchange, he said he'd write a great novel for the company (which turned out to be Norwegian Wood). I see this little interaction as being a possible inspiration for the part in A Wild Sheep Chase when he asks the secretary to look after Kipper while he searches for the sheep. The idea of asking a very powerful person to perform a rather mundane task while embarking on a quest that could result in a great deal of success for said powerful person seems like a nice template which Murakami lifted from his own life.

When Murakami lost his cat, Kirin, he viewed it as losing an integral part of his family: "After Kirin was carried off...my house quickly started to feel empty, and neither me, nor my wife, nor Muse [another of Murakami's cats] could settle down. Family...is a livng thing that has a certain balance, and when one corner of it falls apart, it doesn't take long before everything subtly breaks down". I feel that this information helps to illuminate "Abandoning a Cat" to an extent. I see the two cats as familial parallels between Murakami's father and himself. The old cat, abandoned at the beach, was set to face a great deal of danger, yet miraculously made it back home to live out its days in domesticity. In a similar fashion, Murakami's father was drafted into the army, risking death by going to war, yet he somehow made it home and lived out his days until disease took him. Murakami himself likely parallels the younger cat; I see Murakami writing this as someone who still sees himself as young and unsure of the future. This cat's fate is unknown. Whether it lived, died, wandered off, had a new life with another family, or became a stray is uncertain. Murakami may see his whole life ahead of him and fears he may not get as lucky as that old cat that made its way home despite the odds. This ambiguity might leave him afraid; I think he writes about the cat's disappearance as a way to symbolically represent his fears and anxieties for the future.

Bruce