1. If magical realism "bears certain political and cultural specificities," was the Zenkyoto a main influence of Murakami's established mystical setting? Keeping the events of Zenkyoto in mind, do you think that the United States contributed towards the loss of a collective Japanese identity?
2. Before answering the following question, read the excerpts found in Strecher's article.
"The sheep must gradually eliminate the contents of the host's mind in order to replace them with itself. Thus, the host enjoys the contentment of luxury, and freedom from the tediousness of thinking, but no longer enjoys the personal fulfillment of an individual identity."
"how are Japanese of Murakami's generation and beyond to define themselves as individuals in the post-Zenkyoto era? (...) Indeed, one significant reason that the student movement found such favor with young people in Japan was that it provided a means of self identification, connection with something positive and dynamic."
Although the question has been asked multiple times in class, Strecher's article can allow us to answer it from a different perspective. In A Wild Sheep Chase, what does the sheep represent? Could it be linked to the affluence Strecher said Japan witnessed after WW2?
3. "Murakami's use of magical realism, while closely linked with the quest for identity, is not the least bit involved with the assertion of identity." Do you believe that the protagonists from Murakami's novels assert their own identity by the end of the story?
4. "He tells Shimamoto that he has long been aware that something has been missing from inside him, and that only she can restore this." In light of the interview read last week, do Murakami's female characters contribute to the self-realization of the novel's protagonist?
5. Is the contrast between light and dark, the conscious world and the unconscious realm, only present in Murakami's more surreal works, or also in more realistic stories like Norwegian Wood?
- Daniele Piperno
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