The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami
Chapter 13,
Lieutenant Mamiya's Long Story: Part II
Last Chapter of Book One: The Thieving Magpie (June and July 1984)
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Ch. 13 - Lieutenant Mamiya's Long Story: Part II
- Theomanic
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Ch. 13 - Lieutenant Mamiya's Long Story: Part II
"Beware those who are always reading books" - The Genius of the Crowd, by Charles Bukowski
- Theomanic
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Re: Ch. 13 - Lieutenant Mamiya's Long Story: Part II
"Certain things will always remain as riddles, of course"
This is something that Murakami takes to heart! Sometimes I have heard complaints that his stories are so open-ended. I don't know what to say to that. I like to know what's going on, but I don't want to have everything tied up with a bow. Usually Murakami has a good balance of that, though usually a little less information is given than I would hope. Of any of you have read "Number 9 Dream" by David Mitchell, that is the sort of open ending that I do not like quite so much... though to be fair, it's only a little more open than Murakami (and even that may just be my perception).
"I feel as if, in the intense light that shone for a mere ten or fifteen seconds a day in the bottom of the well, I burned up the very core of my life, until there was nothing left. That is how mysterious that light was to me."
If darkness in this story is the unknown, I suppose it would stand to reason that light is knowledge. Then what might this statement mean? I'm not certain and I am wary of looking for too much where there is only so much.
This is something that Murakami takes to heart! Sometimes I have heard complaints that his stories are so open-ended. I don't know what to say to that. I like to know what's going on, but I don't want to have everything tied up with a bow. Usually Murakami has a good balance of that, though usually a little less information is given than I would hope. Of any of you have read "Number 9 Dream" by David Mitchell, that is the sort of open ending that I do not like quite so much... though to be fair, it's only a little more open than Murakami (and even that may just be my perception).
"I feel as if, in the intense light that shone for a mere ten or fifteen seconds a day in the bottom of the well, I burned up the very core of my life, until there was nothing left. That is how mysterious that light was to me."
If darkness in this story is the unknown, I suppose it would stand to reason that light is knowledge. Then what might this statement mean? I'm not certain and I am wary of looking for too much where there is only so much.
"Beware those who are always reading books" - The Genius of the Crowd, by Charles Bukowski
- GaryG48
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Re: Ch. 13 - Lieutenant Mamiya's Long Story: Part II
This is yet another place where I intentionally tried to not read-in symbolism. I did that because I did not want to approach the book as if it were out of the moderinity tradition. However, I now think I was wrong. Later, Murakami will write some stuff that is self-referential, stuff about how to read the book, that makes me now think that it is legitimate to at least follow the more obvious symbols like the ones you mention.Theomanic wrote:"Certain things will always remain as riddles, of course"
"I feel as if, in the intense light that shone for a mere ten or fifteen seconds a day in the bottom of the well, I burned up the very core of my life, until there was nothing left. That is how mysterious that light was to me."
If darkness in this story is the unknown, I suppose it would stand to reason that light is knowledge. Then what might this statement mean? I'm not certain and I am wary of looking for too much where there is only so much.
The Mamyia war story is a micro-novel. It tells us a lot about what and not much about why--just like Wind-up Bird read as a single story.
--Gary
"Freedom is feeling easy in your harness" --Robert Frost
"Freedom is feeling easy in your harness" --Robert Frost