Murakami's Approach

 Murakami is both a scientist and an artist. Throughout his works, Murakami weaves magic and logic to create the systems of magical realism present in many of his novels and short stories. In Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Murakami describes a world full of Calcutecs, Semiotics, and the corporatist government. While many of these elements seem fantastical, there is a logic to them, a logic that has passed the test of time and technological advancement. Calcutecs act as computers who encrypt and process data. They are “black boxes” that are impenetrable, immutable, and only output is viewable. The Calcutecs, like computers, are not able to adjust their own “code” nor do they have access to or an awareness of these processes. It is entirely automated and highly efficient. Like computers, these Calcutecs are also able to process information that is harmful to them, unbeknownst to them as the narrator does, driving the plot of (half of) this novel. Semiotecs act as programmers, yet a moral judgment is passed on them for their actions. Usually, this is allowed when done to computers, yet the ways in which Calcutecs resemble computers, especially the protagonist, creates an unsettling effect, coercing the reader to morally condemn Semiotecs. 

Murakami takes this one step past logic in The End of the World. In this world, it seems as if the usual rules in the “Other World” do not apply, or are so distorted that they are beyond comprehension. However, the relationship between these two worlds, one being in the mind of the protagonist explains the eerie dreamlike and protagonist-centered logic present in that world.

Murakami was not only able to create this mechanical system in humans, but fully replicate the logic, nuances, and shortcomings of contemporary computing. He then totally defies expectations of the genre and his own readers by linking the two stories together, showing that this fantastical world is fully supported by the logic of the “more realistic” half. Murakami artistically and logically weaves these two worlds together, but his approach to common sense and something resembling the scientific method.

Timothy Obiso