The Political Poignancy of Magic Realism and Youth Alienation: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore

Abstract

Magic Realism in Literature is often exclusively associated with the writings of Hispanic or Latin American authors. Though in recent years there has been more research published on the specificities and nuances of literary magic realism in different cultures, the gravity of their cultural impact is diluted and overshadowed by a generalized understanding of the ways in which magic realism can be utilized. For instance, Japan’s use of magic realism in escapist literature following world war-II has resulted in an oversimplified understanding that most Japanese magic realism is purely aesthetic and has little to offer in deliberating matters such as national and political identity. The objective of this thesis is to offer a response to this assumption through a political interpretation of Japanese magic realism employing Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994) and Kafka on the Shore (2002) as the primary texts. In doing so this research shall cross-examine the growth of magic realism in Japanese literature with the volatile nature of Japan’s political history while also looking at the impact it had on the Japanese youth of that time.