Chapter 2 Ryu Murakami──From Transparent Loneliness to a Land of Hope

In 1977, the discussion meeting of the Japan Association of Artists and Artists to select representative works for the first half of the year was filled with a restless atmosphere.The first half of the primary election publications were on the table, and the judges all looked solemn, because one of the articles sparked a fierce debate, and everyone was thinking about the key points of their speeches later.The work that sparked this heated debate was the first novel "Close to Infinite Transparency Blue" by Tatsu Murakami, who was only 24 years old at the time and was still studying at Musashino University.The reviewers who held objections refused to be selected because the article was too long, the content was dark, decadent and immoral, etc. However, this work that had just won the "Group Portrait Newcomer Literary Award" the year before (1976) was still controversial. Among them, passing the test will be selected.

This is not the first time that this work has caused controversy. Similar disputes and debates have been triggered in the judging meetings of the "Group Portrait Newcomer Literary Award" and the 75th "Akutagawa Award".The aura of two consecutive literary awards, coupled with sensational content, a large number of scenes depicting promiscuity, drug use, and violence at sex parties, made Ryu Murakami's debut performance almost turn into a major social event... full of lonely transparency Ryu Murakami, who was born in 1952 and grew up in a small town near the US military base, lived a hippie-like dissolute life between the ages of eighteen and twenty. , with shark-like kinetic energy and eyesight, shuttles back and forth between all parts of the world and all levels of Japanese society, and uses the magical brushwork almost to sketch to outline the floating life in the eyes.Although, on average, all his works sold less than 100,000 copies, but "Clearly Infinitely Transparent Blue" sold more than 400,000 copies, and the social problems revealed in the novel caused extensive discussions. , enough to prove Ryu Murakami's unique novelist vision.Shortly after the publication of the new novel "Land of Hope" in 2000, the Japanese Prime Minister put the issue of education among the top agenda items discussed in the Diet.What is the charm of this writer who has caused hot topics in Japan and Korea?

Two writers, Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami, who are quite familiar to domestic readers, caused a unique literary phenomenon in Japan in the 1980s and created an era of awakening of the "individual spirit".Literary and art critic Masashi Miura believes that they together marked the end of the "Japanese literary world" and "modern Japanese literature" system.Since ancient times, Japan has been a nation that pays great attention to the "system", with strict relations between upper and lower levels and tight organization.After the Meiji Restoration, various genres gradually developed in the literary world, and most literati would attach themselves to organizations such as the Writers Association or gather together in magazines where their works were published.The two Murakamis are not good at this, and do not participate in the above-mentioned activities or organizations in the Japanese literary world.Haruki Murakami's almost secluded living habits are almost well-known thanks to the Haruki craze in Taiwan.In contrast, Ryu Murakami, who is active in various media and fields, appears to be extraordinarily lively and outgoing. Judging from the results, Ryu Murakami broke with the entire shrunken literati system with actual activity.In his eyes, in this era when everyone can be a college student or a professor, the term "scholar" has lost its meaning.In the epilogue of his novel "In Miso Soup" published in 1997, he mentioned that "writing novels is a kind of translation work, and literature is to translate the gasps and cries of those who have lost their language and are constantly panting and struggling. What he wants to write is not the loneliness of organizational screws, but the struggle and facet of being exiled to the edge.

In Ryu Murakami's early works, a large number of scenes such as sex, violence, taking ecstasy, and excretion are depicted. The sense of loneliness expressed by the indifferent attitude between the lines is often moving.This sense of loneliness echoes the hollowness of the social structure.Under Ryu Murakami's pen, it penetrates the dirty surface and goes straight to the core of the problem.Some have therefore accused him of having a talent for beautifying evil, which leads men down the path of corruption.When "Topaz" narrates the experience of urban bottom-level SM girls surviving the torment of reality through memories, it immediately makes countless girls yearn for this kind of mature beauty that has experienced vicissitudes of life. Suddenly, there are many more SM clubs in Tokyo.After writing the theme of "Assisting Communication", although this issue has been brought to the surface, there are still girls who openly think that they are the protagonists in the book with magnificent fantasies, and sell their souls by deceiving themselves and others.Some people also accused "Land of Hope" of finding high-sounding excuses for all the children who do not go to school.

to the land of hope Murakami's growth period overlapped with Japan's economic take-off period in the 1960s. He saw the transformation and rigidity of the urbanized society, and felt the inner self-destructive conflicts in it.The novel "In Miso Soup" was serialized in "Yomiuri Evening News". When it was published in the section where the perverted killers in the United States were massacring in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, the police received some of the victims' bodies in the "Kobe Youth Murder Case". The newspaper was immediately condemned by powerful public opinion.And "Symbiosis", which describes a cocooned boy who dropped out of school, found his favorite TV anchor website through the Internet, and made friends with a group of friends through the Internet, but also embarked on the road of destruction and murder. Not long after it was published in Japan, a same cocoon A 17-year-old boy who lived there was dissatisfied with being ridiculed on the Internet, and angrily brandished a knife to hijack a bus, killing and injuring many people.

... Humans are inherently corrupt.These corrupt natures have been covered up by various organizations or laws since ancient times.The most representative ones are family and law, but also ideas, art, and religion.These organizations or laws have no real function.It is not that these organizations or laws lead to juvenile delinquency, but that these organizations or laws cannot stop juvenile delinquency. ──"Murder in a Lonely Country", page 14 Whether it's a 14-year-old dismemberment murderer or a violent 17-year-old recluse internet teen, it's all possible in real life.Ryu Murakami has a keen sense of smell ahead of the public, and he can be regarded as an out-and-out "fable novelist".

Although Ryu Murakami keeps changing writing themes and innovating writing techniques, looking at the novels published in recent years, the writing perspective has expanded from personal shattered views and experiences to thinking about possible directions of national history and social systems.He believes that the whole of Japan is constantly shrinking inward, not only the reduction of foreign publications, but also the constant challenges and disintegration of social values.He believes that this is an inevitable process for Japan to move towards a modern country. Although Japan is already on the side of the modern country in terms of material, the spirit of the Japanese is still 30 years ago, and they are only advancing for a single goal (read A good school, a good company, a good position), so that the whole society gradually becomes corrupt and boring.Children watch their boring parents live a boring life, and gradually doubt the value and meaning of their own existence.What follows is a sense of spiritual emptiness, which is why many people need to rely on drugs or the Internet to relieve it, or even rely on perverted sexual relationships to relieve it.In the end, a boy who gradually loses empathy for people and can kill without reason is created.

In the final analysis, these bad maggots are the result of government incompetence and distortion of social values, and they are also problems that society will inevitably encounter after it enters modernization.In Ryu Murakami's "Fascism of Love and Fantasy", he used the combination of hunters and propaganda geniuses to challenge the Japanese economic system.When it comes to "Land of Hope", 100,000 middle school students across the country who refuse to go to class are connected to each other through the Internet, and through cooperation with foreign groups, they accumulate huge wealth on the Internet, and finally create their own ideal country in Hokkaido.The near-future scenes and various social data mentioned in the book are not imagined by the author. Ryu Murakami interviewed thirteen characters set in the book and wrote "The Land of Hope-Interview Notes" (published by Wenyichunqiu).

Ryu Murakami traveled around the world and examined Japan's problems from the outside. He found that Japanese society with only one choice is bound to embark on the path of destruction.He dislikes the self-enclosed atmosphere of the Japanese group. From the first novel to "Baby in the Locker", the themes revolve around the two main axes of autism and destruction, and they tend to tend to be destructive.The violence and war or the carnival-like celebration atmosphere in the book satisfy the reader's desire for destruction and force the reader to think about the reason for human existence.

At the beginning of "Land of Hope", it is written: "There are all kinds of things here, but there is no hope."Ryu Murakami built a kingdom of hope from the huge ruins of abandonment. writing is a game Mariko Hayashi said: "I'm afraid there is no writer in this world who is as happy as Ryu Murakami."It is said that Ryu Murakami is happy because he can always work and play energetically.Whether it is hunting, participating in carnivals, diving, or traveling, you can enjoy it to the fullest.After receiving the Akutagawa Award, he continued to work in a variety of ways: successively served as a director, painter, music manager (introducing Cuban music), and even managed the Internet and wrote books on financial management.However, writing novels has always been his favorite, and he himself admits that novels are no different from narcotics.And his interest in many aspects of strategy is often transferred to novels to enrich the content of the text.

When everyone was still amazed at the new work just launched, he started to play the next more interesting trick.Milan Kundera mentioned the four "God's Calls" in the novel: games, dreams, thoughts and time, which can be found in Murakami's novels enough to echo the works.However, the "game" element is probably what he values ​​most.For example, the novel "The World in Five Minutes Later" describes a man who inexplicably entered another space parallel to the present, and found that the direction of history in it was completely different from that of the present world, and was involved in the war of life and death. Later, this story was rewritten as a computer game. In "Murder in a Lonely Country", he once said: "I have been out of touch with the social system since kindergarten, so I must have a job that makes me feel fulfilled. If I don't set my own goals, I will not be able to survive in this society." Although it seems that writing is regarded as a game, Murakami's attitude of seriously thinking about the content greatly increases the readability of the work.Most of the literary and artistic youths in Taiwan love to watch Haruki Murakami, but they are quite unfamiliar with Ryu Murakami, who is even more famous in Japan, which is a pity.Perhaps this has something to do with the publishing house that recommended it at the beginning positioning him as a "heterogeneous writer", or it may be because in Taiwan at that time, relevant issues had not yet surfaced.However, in recent TV news one after another, shaking one's head and taking drugs, voluntary prostitution, juvenile homicide, education problems...have emerged one after another. Are we also facing the era described in the novel? More likely, this is a question of reading orientation.Haruki Murakami's novels can easily arouse the sadness of youth and create a special atmosphere.In Ryu Murakami's novels, there are very few inner monologues of the characters, and most of them use straightforward actions and dialogues to explain the progress of the story itself. Even in the onset of psychedelic drugs, the fragments that seem real and illusory are written as clear and transparent as glass .Compared with Haruki Murakami, who is good at brewing feelings, Ryu Murakami's eagerness to tell stories may be a little rough in terms of expression, but his ability to penetrate the core of things is beyond the reach of other novelists.I hope that Ryu Murakami's novels successively released by Datian Publishing House can give Chinese people a new understanding of this writer. Author: Ryu Murakami