The Creation of a Japanese Writer for the Global Age: The Case of Haruki Murakami

• Main Author: Guevarra, Alona Ureta
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2019
• Subjects: global literature; Haruki Murakami; Japanese Contemporary Literature; literary field; Japanese Studies; Modern Literature
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/english-faculty-pubs/37; http://unitasust.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/UNITAS-92-2-Alona-Guevara-The-Creation-of-a-Japanese-Writer.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The case of Haruki Murakami’s rise to dominance in both the Japanese and global literary fields is truly exceptional. It is rare for a single author to introduce so much innovation in a literary field in his own lifetime. However, due to the fruitful combination of Murakami’s own talent, the cooperation of his literary collaborators, Murakami, Inc., the advancement in technology (i.e., the Internet) that has allowed Murakami to be in touch with his readers, and his exceptional understanding of English, Murakami has contributed much to Japan’s contemporary literature in the age of global literature. In addition to these factors, it must be emphasized that Murakami’s agency of transforming the conservative literary field of Japan into something more accessible to both the Japanese and the non-Japanese has made Murakami a force that has also transformed Japan’s Post-World War, modern literary field into a field that is open to accommodate postmodern techniques in writing, reflective of its historical position or context and global in its reach.