Sex and The Other Side

When reading the excerpt of Sputnik Sweetheart, specifically the scene where Miu describes watching another version of herself having sex with Fernando, it reminded me of a lot of other similar scenes from Murakami novels involving sex and the other side. Particularly I have noticed that there are many trance like depictions of sex linking Murakami’s characters to the other side. First we saw in the Sputnik Sweetheart excerpt, Miu having a sort of out of body experience, watching the other version of herself having sex with Fernando in her own apartment. This experience is what connects her to the other side described in Murakami’s novels and splits her into two halves, leaving a part of her on the other side. This reminded of a number of other scenes where characters experience a, usually traumatic, sexual experience that links them with the supernatural. One example that this reminded me of is the scene where Creta Kano is violated by Noboru Wataya in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, and she is changed by the experience and gains her supernatural powers. Another example is in 1Q84 when Tengo becomes paralyzed and has sex with Fuka-Eri, where a similar experience is also described between her and her father, which led to many other worldly events in that novel. The last example that I thought of was the descriptions of Miss Saeki in Kafka on the Shore. Through the novel it is described how she traveled to the other side after the death of her boyfriend and was also changed by that experience. She then engages in almost hypnotic sexual experience with Kafka, and his interactions with her help him on his own journey to the other side. In all of these novels Murakami’s characters experience sexual traumas, often described as a trance like state, that violates them and often ends with part of themselves being left on the other side. Due to the number of similar types of scenes, I think Murakami is trying to make a connection between sexual trauma and the other side, and analyze the effect that sexual trauma has on people, often women. In these scenes Murakami often describes how the characters feel violated or like the events were out of their control. My personal interpretation of these scenes is that Murakami is trying to portray how violent sexual traumas can have a profound effect on people, so significant that part of their being dies and is left on the other side.

Ken Rudolph