Murakami and Langston Hughes

 I was very interested in Murakami’s affiliation with jazz as explained in the Rubin article, “Murakami and the Music of Words,” particularly when Rubin writes of Murakami, “he enjoys the music of words, and he senses an affinity between his stylistic rhythms and the beat of jazz” (2). One can see how Murakami’s short sentence structure and quick writing pace mimic the quick movement and improvisation of jazz. Typically when I think of a close association between jazz and writing I think of the Harlem Renaissance, particularly the poetry of Langston Hughes in poems like “Jazzonia,” “The Weary Blues,” and “Dream Boogie.” In “Dream Boogie,” Hughes also utilizes very short lines: “Listen closely: / you’ll hear their feet / beating out a beating out a–.” Both writers seem to be tapping into the idea that music allows for a deeper and perhaps more primal experience of human existence and in modeling their writing after a genre of music, they allow for a unique experience for the reader. For Hughes and many other Harlem Renaissance writers, jazz was a complex thing, because it had many social and political factors for their existence as Black people in America. Jazz was thought of as an African American genre of music, descended from the legacy of slavery, but during the early 20th century it became increasingly commercialized as it entered into the realm of popular music. Thus, there is a tension in Hughes’s work between the tradition of jazz and then the way it has been alienated from this tradition. The original meaning of jazz is being lost or obscured, which is evident in the way that the speaker in Hughes’ poetry is constantly interrupted before he can get his message across. Obviously Murakami’s work does not have as close of a political/social affiliation to jazz like Hughes, but Murakami also exists in a strange middle ground between popular culture and the more artistic tradition of literature in Japan, so perhaps Hughes and Murakami both exist in the tension between these two forces and their affiliation to jazz allows them a way out of the bind. 

Maggie

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/151091/dream-boogie