Murakami & Women - Further Reflections

For my second blog post, I wrote about Murakami’s controversial portrayal of women in his stories, and I wanted to follow up on that post with more insight about his work and his own personal philosophy. First, when reading the interview, I couldn't help but be slightly frustrated. While I do believe him when he says he does not intend for his work to come across that way, at the same time, Murakami has to recognize his works do not exist in a vacuum. While I do appreciate that Murakami says he is willing to apologize if he has offended anyone, I think if it’s your job to portray real people, you have to be able to recognize your culture blindspots. I don’t expect Murakami to write a perfect depiction of what it means to live as a woman in this world, but simply saying “That’s not my intention, but I’m sorry if I hurt you” is not a strong excuse or explanation. That being said, I don’t think my issues with his work outweigh my enjoyment of his work. We can, and should, critique the things we enjoy, and this is just one aspect of his work worth discussing. I think I am able to take this stance with Murakami, and not other authors who may have questionable depictions of women, because I believe Murakami does not mean any malice. Overall, I can see how his more problematic aspects (i.e. gratuitous sexuality) adds to the larger message as a whole, while other authors add it in just because. -Jayde Wang