The Poetics of Requiem, Bauhaus, Art Noveau (Sadie)

Although the article The Poetics of Requiem talks about mainly music and language, I think the idea that Murakami is using Germany to refer to Tour (and thus, the world of the living) and France to Naoko (and thus, to the world of the dead) is also related to art movements as well. Murakami is choosing to largely ignore history in this instance and is pulling on the aesthetics of an early to mid 20th century France and Germany. In France, in the beginning of the 19th century, art nouveau was an extremely popular design, architectural, and interior design style, characterized by sweeping curves and dynamic, flowing asymmetrical compositions. Shortly thereafter art deco became popular in France, which built on a lot of the style that art nouveau did, which was an opulent architectural style that was popular before WWI. Around this time, in Germany, design and style movements were less focused on asymmetric naturalistic designs and were more focused in the real or concrete. In the 1910’s the Staatliches Bauhaus school of design was established, which was a German school focused on using the means of mass production to create aesthetically pleasing graphic, architectural and interior design, but also very utilitarian in nature. Less focused on natural elements and more brutal or real.

These two movements also represent the idea that Toru is to Germany what Naoko is to France. However both the article and this idea does still strip the context of what was happening historically in Europe at this time. At one point in class someone brought up that in Kafka on the Shore, Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders are used as characters, and they are able to by symbols devoid of a lot off the cultural implications that they might have in the west. They are more so icons that represent drink and meat and are ghoulish representations than capitalist icons. I think Murakami continuing to use these sort of ideas from the west in his work remain really interesting as a western reader. We’re able to pull out his references and see them used in a unique way.