Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture
Lecture Series 2015

“Murakami Haruki, World Literature and Kafka on the
Shore”

Reiko Abe Auestad

December 11th, 17:00-18:30
Building 10, Room 301, Sophia University, Yotsuya
Campus

Pocketbook versions of “Murakami Haruki” are seen
everywhere we travel, and his status as the most
internationally visible and commercially successful
Japanese author is beyond doubt. But does that make his
work part of the so-called world literature? If so what
does that mean? How should one read a work of
literature with a cultural and historical baggage
different than one’s own? These questions are
especially relevant for Murakami’s literature, because
of its rich intertextual and surrealistic resonances
that permit a wide range of affective reactions, with
no obviously “correct” way of responding, as Murakami
himself repeatedly reminds us. In my talk, I would like
to use Kafka on the Shore as a case study to shed light
on some of these questions by introducing several
contextual interpretations of the novel, in the hope of
engaging the audience in discussion.

Reiko Abe Auestad received a BA in English and American
literature from Sophia University, MA in Japanese
literature from University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D.
from University of Oslo, where she currently works as
professor.

She is the author of Rereading Sôseki: Three Early
Twentieth Century Japanese Novels, originally published
in 1998; its digital version is forthcoming from the
CEAS Occasional Publication Series at Yale University.
She has recently published two articles on Sôseki’s
Kokoro, and is currently involved with editing Japanese
and English anthologies of essays on Natsume Sôseki.
Her most current research project, “Affect and Speech
Act in Modern Japanese Literature” (working title),
examines novels by among others Natsume Sôseki, Ôe
Kenzaburô, Kirino Natsuo, and Kawakami Mieko.

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture
7-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8554
+81-(0)3-3238-4082 (Tel) : +81-(0)3-3238-4081 (Fax):
http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/ (Web)
diricc@sophia.ac.jp (email)

Flyer in PDF:
http://icc.fla.sophia.ac.jp/html/events/2015-2016/15121
1_Abe-Auestad.pdf
or
http://goo.gl/ileNVx