Thanks, Eric, this is great stuff--
Pg. 3: This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: “At the time, no one knew what was coming.”
-Janacek is playing during this. Foreshadowing.
Pg. 9: “And also,” the driver said. Facing the mirror, “please remember: things are not what they seem.” -Possible theme or sub them of novel.
Pg. 9: “But don’t let appearances fool you. There’s always only one reality.” The driver repeated slowly, as if underling an important passage in a book.
-The first evidence of metanarrative, Murakami writing about writing, almost telling the reader ‘you really should pay attention to this line.’ What reality is that? 1984 or 1Q84?
Pg. 11: Aomame frowning or grimacing causes a total facial distortion to the point where she looks like a different person. “”Violently distorted,” “shocking transformation terrified anyone.” Aomame has schooled herself to maintain control of her facial features so as not to show emotion.
Pg. 14: Tengo’s ‘dizzy spells’ are explained about his infant memories of his mother cheating on his father.
Pg. 16: Fuka-Eri’s name: Fukada Eriko. “U” in Japanese has an ‘oo’ sound, like in ‘you,’ or an ‘uh’ sound like in ‘buff.’ The ‘uh’ sound is normally at the end of Japanese words, such as masu (think Spanish mas with a short –uh sound at the end. It can also be in the middle, like in the name, Sasuke (think Sahss-uh-kay). Fuka-Eri could be tweeked as ‘fuckery’ if said fast enough, which would be in line with the literary fuckery that her work was, and her personality. Whole lot of fuckery, especially when she has interdimensional “intercourse” with Tengo. Cosmic-level fuckery resulting in Jesus-baby resting inside a green pea named Aomame.
Pg. 19: “Tengo thought Komatsu enjoyed the isolation-and even relished being openly hated. Komatsu believed that mental acuity was never born from comfortable circumstances.”
-Komatsu is also a truck company name, which makes sense since Komatsu works like a piece of machinery; gears always turning. Isolation is also a theme here. Everyone is isolated in their own way, much like Murakami chooses to be. Reflections of him seem evident in characters. Reference video “In Search of the Elusive Murakami.”
Pg. 23: Tengo has a married girlfriend who is cheating on her husband with him. Tengo seeks no further connection from people or intimate relationships. Girlfriend disappears later. Little People are suspected to be involved.
Pg. 29: “I move, therefore I am.” Aomame thinking while climbing down the stairway next to the highway. A twist on Descartes “I think, therefore I am.” Very Westernized-philosophy.
Pg. 42: “We share the same fate.” Komatsu telling Tengo their fates are intertwined.
Pg. 43: Curses playing a major role in major communities. Ancient Japanese curse reference possibly?
Pg. 46: Tengo’s reference to math being “like water” is much more Eastern in thought and philosophy. Research further into Japanese quotes and proverbs about water to link together.
Pg. 52: Tengo is getting his first feelings as a Perceiver after Fuka-Eri, a Receiver, left after their first encounter. Experiences this feeling with his body, like Aomame’s feeling and later, Tengo’s, of being pulled into 1Q84. A “premonition” that something is going to go wrong or is out of the ordinary about the whole situation.
Pg. 64-65: Komatsu tells Tengo the difference between talent and gut instinct. Gut instinct will keep you fed.
Pg. 66: Tengo refers to rewriting Air Chrysalis as “giving a butterfly a skeleton.” How to rewrite the book structurally “without destroying its fundamental nature and atmosphere?”
Pg. 71: Tengo talking to his married girlfriend about how kids and adults are shut out of social groups. With adults it’s obscure, but with kids it’s much more direct.
Pg. 78: Tamaru talking to Aomame about the German Shepherd liking spinach and thinking of herself as a “special being that transcends classification.”
-I don’t really know why this stands out to me or if it has anything to do with any overarching themes, but special beings do come into play in this novel. Maybe the dog is special because the little people use her to send a message, albeit a brutal one, she was essentially a message bearer of the cosmic forces that keep equilibrium. Intriguing.
Pg. 106: “At some point in time, the world I knew either vanished or withdrew, and another world came to take its place. Like the switching of a track.” SEE BELOW
Pg. 106: “Parallel worlds.”
-Aomame reasoning out the situation after realizing she’s in a different world. Slightly scientific in that the world has been deductively analyzed by Aomame, but is missing supportive data. Little is given throughout the book on this supportive data, mostly interpretive measures must be used. Also, the notion of tracks reminds me of the “Beams” in King’s Dark Tower series, the ones Roland and his companion end up saving. There is a lot about switching tracks in the Dark Tower series. Following track (pursuit), Jake’s first death falling off the rail tracks in the cave, proclaiming “Go now, there are other worlds than this” lent this same surreal quality of changing realities that falls more in line with Slipstream fiction and New Wave Fabulism. Coincidentally, Jake is reincarnated in his previous life after Roland lets him fall to his death. Yet he is reincarnated with a vivid memory of his time in Roland’s world, knowing his death in this current incarnation would be coming soon. It drove him to the brink of insanity, similar to Aomame being on a constant lookout for what is new with this world. Like Jake, Aomame can’t go to talk to a psychiatrist or a confidante of some sort. Their propositions of what is happening in reality are both to ridiculous-sounding to “normal” people.
Extra Note: Janacek’s Sinfionetta is most likely used to express Murakami’s love of music, as are other elements of Jazz and Classical music in 1Q84, but since Tengo played the timpani in his high school band (and did an exquisite job after only practicing for two weeks) it is probably used as a connecting element to Tengo and Aomame. The whole point of Aomame coming to 1Q84 was to unite with Tengo, so it would make sense that a song, one that showcases Tengo’s talent for music, would be playing while the shift between 1984 and 1Q84 is introduced to Aomame by the cab driver. She felt the physical jolt as soon as she heard Janacek in the cab (page 108).
Pg. 108: She had experienced it as a kind of physical wrenching.
-Description of Aomame’s transition between the two worlds, very similar to Tengo’s physical perception of the switch as well. They literally both felt it.
Pg. 108: After you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may lookdifferent to you than they did before. But don’t let appearances fool you, there’s always only one reality.
-What the cab driver said to Aomame, verbatim. This can be interpreted in three ways: 1) when you switch from one reality to another you only perceive the reality you are in. 2) When you switch from one reality to another the previous reality ceases to be. 3) Multiple realities exist, but there is a hyper-reality that exists in all realities, similar to the “numenal” world or Lacan’s “real” world.
Pg. 1Q84-that’s what I’ll call this new world, Aomame decided. Q is for question mark. A world that bears a question.
-1Q84 is dubbed 1Q84. What is the Question in 1Q84???
Pg. 115: Tengo meets Ebisuno. Ebisuno sounds like he looks like Bill from Kill Bill.
Pg. 116: Ebisuno’s name means “field of savages-perfect for a cultural anthropologist…”
Pg. 121: Ebisuno explains to Tengo the nature of his friendship with Tamotsu Fukada, Fuka-Eri’s father. Tamotsu Fukada took Takashima (the commune that is referenced as being like Orwell-like in its structure, IE Big Brother) and made it into the religious organization that now connect with the otherworldly “little people” that watch over the universe from the shadows.
Pg. 123: Sakigake translates as “forerunner”.
Pg. 126: Akebono is introduced, the famous gun-battle between Akebono members and the Japanese police. When Ebisuno talks about this, Tengo experiences more physical wrenching trying to recall the information about the battle, as if his mind were missing pieces. Same experience Aomame had.
Pg. 168: Aomame recalls her emotional experience surround her best friend Tamaki’s death. She says to herself “This marks a borderline…From now on, I will no longer be the person I was.”
-After Tamaki’s death Aomame ends up making the transition to working for the dowager to exterminate men like Tamaki’s husband.
Pg. 172: Komatsu is explaining to Tengo how even though there are negative aspects about their re-writing of Air Chrysalis, that in an Aristotelian view “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that which all things aim” –Aristotle.
-Tengo follows Komatsu’s well-placed quote in perspective by asking Komatsu “What does Aristotle have to say about the Holocaust?” Classic Western thought paired with a question about modern Western warfare that challenges the way Western (Classic Greek) philosophy can explain life. Quite insightful, promoting Western philosophy through his writing but challenging it with simple Eastern-based wisdom from Tengo. The fact that it’s a conversation about writing, in a book about a world-altering story, and uses a combination of Western philosophy, notably well-used in dialogue, that is paired down with Eastern Wisdom (via Tengo’s inquiry about the Holocaust). This is a prime example of why 1Q84 doesn’t fit into either Western of Eastern categories, and most importantly bolstering the hypothesis that 1Q84 is a world-metanarrative delivered within an overarching love story.
Pg. 180: Tengo recalls the first time he came across Janacek’s Sinfonietta during his high school band performance. His fifth grade teacher was there, the same one who taught his and Aomame’s class. Tengo realizes he’s no longer a child when his teacher is fidgety upon seeing Tengo as a handsome, strapping young man of large frame. One of those little life events for Tengo that inextricably links him to Aomame through Janacek’s music.
Pg. 184: Popular Highlight: What did it mean for a person to be free? She would often ask herself. Even if you managed to escape from one cage, weren’t you just in another, larger one?
Pg. 190: “I did have a person I fell in love with once,” Aomame said. “It happened when I was ten. I held his hand.”
“You fell in love with a boy when you were ten? That’s all.”
-Aomame and Ayumi talking about their love experiences over dinner. Tengo is the reference obviously, and Aomame continues to describe how she doesn’t want to track Tengo down, but would rather it be fate that brought the two of them together by “destiny, a chance encounter.” Can anyone scream ‘foreshadowing?’ And aren’t fates and chance encounters two entirely different things? One is predetermined and the other happens accidently, which is another minor point in the duality of his writing and the often ambiguous nature of what is taking place in Qq84.
Pg. 192: “It could be that everything’s decided in advance and we pretend we’re making choices. Free will may be an illusion. I often think that.” (Aomame speaking). “If that’s true, life is pretty dark.” (Ayumi speaking)
-Aomame and Ayumi waxing philosophy/metaphysics. Possibly Murakami’s own view on life, or at least a point he has considered at an intellectual level.
Pg. 196: Aomame first sees that there are two moons in the sky, the regular moon and the small, greenish moon (like a green pea in the sky, or in Japanese, ‘Aomame no sora’=green pea of the sky).
Pg. 210: Narration: “When he wokeup the next day, the world was still there, and things were already moving forward, like the great karmic wheel of Indian mythology that kills every living thing in its path.”
-Tengo wakes from a dream where he is essentially saved by Fuka-Eri. Murakami’s description of his waking incorporates Eastern (Hinduism) religion as a descriptor of cyclical nature of time, i.e. the Hindu wheel of life brought to its closing by Shiva, god of destruction. Yet what interests me also is the use of the word ‘mythology’ to describe this process. While religions under certain lenses certainly contain mythic elements, such as the stories of the Greek and Roman gods, Hinduism is one of the largest world religions and its structures are almost “Othered” by seemingly Western line of thought. Would Murakami refer to the idea of Christian angels, God, or Jesus as mythical? Or Allah? It’s strange to me that a person who, for all intents and purposes, would have a greater (choose one) understanding/appreciation/knowledge of the subject simply due to geographic proximity and thus, would be less likely to relegate Hinduism’s beliefs as mere myth. Especially for one such as Murakami, our beloved surrealistic-writing eclectic author.
Pg. 211-214: Aomame is wondering if there is something wrong with her mind that is causing her to see two moons, yet poses the question to herself of whether or not she can “declare with one hundred percent certainty” that two moons is actually different from the lunar norm. At this point I wondered about the science behind the lunar duo and if the astrophysics behind two lunar beings orbiting earth would have any ramifications in Earth’s environment. Needless to say, Murakami never explains any of the science behind it, or even the purpose of the new, small green moon. This is one of those numerous events in the story (most of them ongoing throughout) where the science behind things is never explained, which is cause for 1Q84 to be outside of the Sci-Fi genre.
- My speculation is this: the green moon represents Aomame in a spiritual sense (her name and moon’s color too, plus the size difference) and the large moon represents Tengo and 1984. Both characters are pulled into 1Q84 through forces not fully explained, by interpretable in relation to Eri being a counterbalancing force to the little people. Once Tengo and Aomame unite and escape 1Q84, the number of moons becomes one, the regular moon of 1984. To summarize, the moons return to only being one being, just as Tengo and Aomame (plus their little one) become one when they reunite and leave 1Q84.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Tengo is literally “instrumental” to Aomame and himself coming to 1Q84. Not only because of their connection to each other, but also in that the beginning of Janaceks Sinfionetta is playing when Aomame decides to enter 1Q84, a musical piece Tengo himself was “instrumental” too since he played it in his high school band. Not only is Tengo “instrumental” to the band since he agrees to play the timpanis on such short notice (havig never played before and learning it in two weeks) the timpanis, which Tengo plays, are “instrumental” to the beginning of Sinfionetta. There is an “instrumental parallel” between between Sinfionetta, Tengo, Aomame, and Beginnings.
Listened to Lachrimae. Very Western, Renaissance feel to it. Just my opinion. Not sure of any relevance other than that the piece fits the atmosphere of the conversation between Aomame and the Dowager as far as mood and setting goes, yet the conversation moves to the topic of time and it’s relation to the moon. If Sinfionetta is representative of “instrumental parallels” to beginnings, then maybe the Dowager is a parallel between the flow of time in relation to the characters at hand (Aomame), as in the Dowager’s actions (AKA parallels) help continue the flow of time/progress of events after Tengo’s initial “instrumental” role in beginning the story through Sinfionetta. Kind of a stretch, but certainly feasible. Look for music that symbolized the ending of time within the text. Or maybe the end of time is when the proverbial “music” stops? Most intruiging…
Pg. 217: “I suppose if there is to be some judgment after death, a god will be the one to judge me. That doesn’t frighten me in the least. I did nothing wrong. I reserve the right to declare the justice of my case in anyone’s presence.”
-The dowager speaking to Aomame about her indirect involvement in making a man “vanish” and her thoughts on the afterlife.
Pg. 226: Tsubasa, a young girl who escape Sakigake and has been “raped” to the point of having her uterus destroyed, proclaims that the “Little People” did this too her when the Dowager and Aomame are discussing what happened. This is one of the first, if not the first, event we see of how the little people can be malevolent.
Pg. 232: “As I said the first time we met, what we are engaged in is a kind of fraud, possibly an offense to our whole society.”
-Tengo talking to Ebisuno about the nature of them moving forward with the plan to rewrite Air Chrysalis. What’s interesting here is that solitary Tengo is actually showing concern (or posssibly just stating the facts) for the societal repercussions of this fraud. Linkable to Murakami’s work as being “fraudulently” Japanese, as in he’s not a true Japanese writing by Japan’s literary standards. More evidence of the book being a world-metanarrative, i.e. Murakami writing about the effects of his own writing on society.
Pg. 236: “George Orwell introduced the dictator Big Brother in his novel 1984, as I’m sure you know. The book was an allegorical treatment of Stalinism, of course. And ever since then, the term ‘Big Brother’ has functioned as a social icon.” –Ebisuno
“The Little People are an invisible presence. We can’t even tell whether they are good or evil, or whether they have any substance or not. But they seem to be steadily undermining us.” –Ebisuno
-This is the first time we see a reference to 1984 and Orwell’s work. Big Brother is brought into play as a social mechanism and as and “social icon,” yet also on this page we see Murakami relate the Little People to Big Brother. As far as the Sci-Fi element, once again we see Murakami avoid the trappings of the Sci-Fi genre but eliminating any scientific explanation to the Little People. The emphasis seems to be only on that they are a force, undefined, and are counteracting the efforts made by Komatsu, Tengo, Ebisuno, and Eri in relation to Air Chrysalis.
Pg. 240: The dowager and Aomame are asking Tsubasa (a girl from Sakigake who is either a dohta or maza) about the Little People. The words, have “an ominous ring, a subtle overtone that Aomame sense like the distant sound of thunder.”
-This is almost foreshadowing the severity of going against the Little People, referencing the thunderstorm that happens later on the night when Tengo and Eri have intercourse/Aomame murders Leader and becomes pregnant.
Pg. 252: Narrative on how Tengo has no particular desire for other women, other than his married girlfriend, or the burdens that come with a relationship. “What he wanted most of all was uninterrupted free time. If he could have sex on a regular basis, he had nothing more to ask of a women.”
-Makes me wonder if this is Murakami’s own view, tying back in to the metanarrative theme, and if he continues to use Tengo as a method of description about his own life, thoughts, and desires.
Pg. “ I make it a policy not to show people manuscripts until they’re finished and revised. I don’t want to jinx my writing.
“’Jinx.’”
“It’s an English word. ‘To cause bad luck.’ It’s kind of a rule of mine”
-Tengo talking to Eri about jinxing his work. The obvious is the usage of a Western word (jinx) that emphasizes Murakami’s blending of Western and Eastern culture. As far as metanarrative is concerned, once again Murakami may actually be telling the reader about how he writes.
Pg. 254-256: Tengo asks Eri to recite “The Battle of Dan-no-ura” from the long Japanese book The Tale of Heike. Eri recites it verbatim, and here we see an elaborate usage of Eastern culture, one that depicts Buddhism, the Grand Shrine of Ise, and other classical Japanese imagery surrounding the “magnificent sea battle fought in 1185 on the swirling currents between Honshu and Kyushu” (p. 256)
Pg. 257: Tengo reiterates/elaborates on Orwell’s 1984 to Eri. The future has become for Tengo what Orwell has written, manifest in different manners (i.e. The Little People mainly), references to totalitarianism is made, and maybe this plants the seed for Tengo that “if Orwell can write it and it becomes truth in the future, maybe I can rewrite the immediate future to alter the dangerous circumstances I am involved in into a more favorable outcome.”
Pg. 258-259: Tengo and Eri’s conversation about Chekov. This strikes me as another metanarrative that depicts Murakami’s own view. Tengo, who is already Murakami-esque in his solitude, describes how Chekov was “uncomfortable living as a literary star in the city…fed up with the atmosphere of the literary worl…put off by the affections of other writers…disgusted by the malicious critics of the day.” Knowing what we know about Murakami and his views on has success and writing (after watching the documentary ‘The Elusive Murakami’), this passage sounds like Murakami is using Tengo to relay Chekov’s views that, in turn, Murakami shares. Damn near, and may even be, a metanarrative with a metanarrative; a writer, writing about a writer vocalizing language to explain another writer’s view on writing and the literary world. Deep shit.
Pg. 276: Tengo is contemplating that his recurring visions of his mother’s infidelity may be a creation of his own mind to justify his feeling towards his father; that this (Mr. Kawana) man is in no way his biological father. A rationalization of sorts to explain why him and his father were so different in form and mind. This particular thought of Tengo’s… “Wherever you go, whatever you do, you can never escape the pressure of this water. This memory defines who you are, shapes your life, and is trying to send you to a place that has been decided for you. You can write all you want, but you will never be able to escape from this power” (p. 276).
-The fact that Murakami portrays the pressure of Tengo’s memories, real or not, as water is a very Eastern thought process and description.
Pg. 284: If this isn’t Murakami voicing his own feelings and methods of writing then I don’t know what is. The quote goes, “In other words, he had transformed it [Air Chrysalis] into a commodity, and that commodity was (to borrow Komatsu’s expression) selling like hotcakes.” This is the summation of what Tengo, Komatsu, and Eri hav brought to fruition by having Air Chrysalis published. As Murakami stated in the “Elusive Murakami” documentary, to paraphrase, he doesn’t share his personal life or ideas because they are his “assets” and his experiences are what he uses as the base of his stories. While in the story Tengo is transforming Eri’s experiences into a more polished story format, isn’t that essentially what all writers do with their drafts? Considering that Eri is perceiver and Tengo receiver, thus two parts of a whole, they can be interpreted as one being, similar to Murakami in lifestyle (Tengo) and how his life and work are bathed in obscurity (Eri). Factor in what we know about Komatsu and his business savvy, we may be looking at three separate characters portraying a large part of Murakami’s actually persona. Even within the above quote regarding “hotcakes,” this Western figure of speech shows Murakami’s incorporation of Western elements into his story while accurately reflecting the overall scope of his techniques in writing, i.e. blending Eastern and Western themes, which results in a highly successful novel both in his own writing as well as the fictional Air Chrysalis. Air Chrysalis can ultimately be interpreted as an allegory for 1Q84 itself, and in fact, the events in Air Chrysalis, both Eri and Tengo’s creation as well as Tengo’s personal writing (which can be interpreted as Air Chrysalis 1 and 2 respectively) are the events of 1Q84. It can then be posed that Murakami wrote a book about the book he was writing into the book itself. Thus, if 1Q84 is a metanarrative and Air Chrysalis is more than an allegory for 1Q84, then Murakami has written a book about writing within a book about writing, neatly wrapped in a love story.
Pg. 289: Reference to McLuhan; “McLuhanesque…the medium is not the message.” Reference to Sakigake’s substance being their lack of substance, such as extensive doctrines.
-Look up McLuhan.
Pg. 290: “That’s possible, I suppose. A grotesque creature from another world,” Ayumi said, with a monster’s growl.
-Aomame and Ayumi talking about the possibilities of who/what Leader is. Leader wasn’t grotesque, he was a physically normal man, relatively speaking, from the context we have from Ebisuno’s story about the Fukada’s. But it seems that he becomes, opposed to already was, a grotesque creature, physically enormous and wracked by agony in a dying body that’s purpose was to “hear the voices” and penetrate prepubescent girls with an enormous phallous while he, Leader, is physically unable to resist. Sounds pretty monstrous to me, but for all parties involved.
Pg. 291: Big Brother reference, refers to members of Sakigake rising up through the ranks to “come into the presence of “Big Brother.” Ayumi is the speaker.
Pg. 293: “That’s what the world is after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories.” –Quote from Ayumi.
No comments:
Post a Comment