Hello. I have released a new video addressing claims of misogyny in the work of Haruki Murakami.
This content may be too niche for some, and perhaps I should broaden my video topics somewhat. ‘Why Books Are Good’, for example. Or ‘The Ten Best Things’.
But I felt compelled to make this, having embarked upon the strange task of trying to read every Murakami novel, even though he’s not among my absolute favourites.
I read three in a row, and now I want to finish them all. Haters will claim this is some kind of mental condition, but I maintain that it is quite normal.
But even if you haven’t read any Murakami, or vaguely thought it was a kind of food, this video will hopefully be of some interest, as I broaden the discussion to ask whether literature should have any moral or melioristic element, or whether it is purely an aesthetic medium.
And if that doesn’t float your boat either, then I can’t help you, and you’ll just have to wait for the next one. Though topic ideas are welcome, within reason.
Watch below.
Kind regards,
Nick
Really interesting commentary Nick. Murakami's one of those writers I've been meaning to get round to reading for a good while, I've had a copy of Norwegian Wood on my shelf for years! Your discussion of him has spurred me on to start with him.
This piece also reminded me of an intense discussion in an English Lit seminar at university. We were studying London Fields, and the lecturer mischievously asked if anyone thought Amis was a misogynist. Of course that lit the touch paper for the bolshie feminist in the class. I daresay he did it just to wind her up, as I remember him doing stuff like that a fair bit. This was in 1993, and academics were less dull and dogmatic in those days, or at least some of them were. It's hard to imagine that now.