Tag: Haruki Murakami

Murakami’s worlds

Once in a while, we stumble upon an author, just to follow his trail of thoughts.

Haruki Murakami is one of those He too likes writing and running. Not to mention his out-of-this-worldliness (Moon vs Sun).

Murakami’s world often consists of characters who feel detached, more like an observer than participant.

They struggle and strive, often times never arrived. But the journey they took, the travail they faced make it worthwhile. From Kafka to Carver, Murakami exhibits his synthesis skills. His ethos is neither East nor West. In 1Q84, it’s other-worldly ( I read part I and II in Vietnamese, and part III in English, which made the experience even more international).

He dwells a lot not just on the protagonist but also on the antagonist.

And he spared not his protagonists who got flaws as much as the antagonists who got redeemable qualities (aren’t we all!).

His sidekicks sometimes are older men, senile, but with a midas touch (Kafka on the shore) or strong women with a hang-up from the past (tycoon lady in 1Q84).

When it comes to the meaty part (sex), he just touch-bases on the surface to keep the character real (dark realism).

Exhaustive but worthwhile, that’s how a journey with Murakami was.

Just like his 100 km-run. So what do I talk about when I talk about Murakami?

That his novels don’t rock? His flow of thoughts weird? And his characters while other-worldly, yet seem more real if we chose to conspire?

All of the above. And more over, Murakami grows richer in detail and description over time.

I look forward to more developed characters in his upcoming novels. Pick one from his collection, and dive right into his world. Neither East nor West, but then, who needs all those neatly categories, given our blended taste for culture and couture nowadays.

Passion as motivator

With passion, one can even work without pay. At least for a while. Blessed are those who can

translate passion into profit.

Novelists, musicians and movie-makers.

But those of us who do not belong in that club can still tap into the well of creativity.

Create products that your kids want to use (to take their own pictures for instance).

Come up with a recipe that on rainy days, you yourself would want to eat it.

I just finished the 3-part 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami where he created a fictional year of two moons. His passion is in creating a surreal universe, once entered, you can’t get out (unless you can trace back the emergency exit where you originally let yourself  in).

Someone else’s passion tends to evoke our own. There are 7 Billion readers and music lovers out there.

Will you be the one who decodes them!

It might sound far-fetched. But your passion will help you start your own “religion”.

You know what you love.

What keeps you work for free. To stay awake with or without coffee.

If you can’t find it, at least, find those directions which your family has tried to talk you out of. They might not know the right direction to steer you into, but they tend to know what to talk you out of. That’s where you need to pursue. Leverage the rebellious instinct.  Surprise the nay sayers. The best “revenge” is success. To get success, you need to uncover your passion and use it.

Self-decoding

Our gene distribution and mutation have a lot in common (survival instinct, reproduction, empathy etc…). But from there, each of us is different and unique: some poets, others warriors or both.

Haruki Murakami is both a writer and a runner (100 km race).  Richard Blanco, who will recite at Obama’s Inauguration, is both an engineer and a poet.

Leonardo Da Vinci was multi-talented. I am threading in Malcolm Gladwell’s waters here. What makes a person genius? How did they find that out? Early or late in life (Raymond Carver took writing courses late in life).

What if we are “outliers”, but go about life undiscovered, undecoded?

What line do we have to cross to “find ourselves”?

10,000 hours of doing the same thing? Solving problems at the same level they occurred has never worked. Just think of failed relationships (rooted in dysfunctional families, then manifest itself later in life).

A new generation of young Americans are defining themselves with acronyms (NYT latest on Annette Bening and Warren Beatty kids).

Being first-wave immigrant, I serve as a bridge, for my American-born daughters to cross-over.

They are on Facebook and Twitter. They wear jeans and use I-phones.

They text (while I twist, well, not that old. My brother did) often times with abbreviation and speak a language of their peers.

While I enjoyed lengthy 20-minute long CCR’s O Suzie Q and Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love, they watch viral  YouTube’s clips.

I belong to a generation that enjoyed getting blasted at, while theirs is an uploading one (one-to-many vs many-to-many communication).

They can “read” someone instinctively (gene mutation?), decoding people rather quickly. I meanwhile grew up learning how to  entertain guests, give them benefits of the doubt (not three-strikes-you-are-out).

They speak in short bursts and shorthands. My prof’s however spent a lot of time setting up a theme before getting to the heart of their lectures.

We learn to comprehend and communicate bound by technology of any given time (a tweet lasts only 140 characters, with some buffering).

I remember sending post cards home when doing relief work overseas.

Before I get to what I wanted to say, I ran out of room. Overseas long distance phone calls were quite prohibitive. Even now, to call back to the US from Timbuktu is quite daunting.

Life is a crash course in understanding ourselves and our surroundings.

It might end abruptly, and there are no final exams. We will have to rely on others to “see” for us (director’s cut or uncut, novelist, poet and priest).

Born with this inability to see ourselves with our own eyes (only reflection in the mirror), we are humble and eager to discover more, to surprise ourselves at times: we have more courage, flexibility and nobility than we know. Only when we are in good company, in danger that a better version of ourselves emerge.

Outliers know this early in life. Others just focus on one or two things they are passionate about. Runner-writer, engineer-poet. What if you are better in the kitchen than in the boardroom? We call them chefs and not chiefs. And it’s OK too, given today’s technology e.g. YouTube. I hope your secret sauce go viral. Just make sure you speak in short bursts when targeting younger audience.