Lexington Books Murakami Haruki: The Simulacrum in Contemporary Japanese Culture (Studies of Modern Japan)

Product Description In his book,Murakami Haruki, Dr. Michael Seats offers an important philosophical intervention in the discussion of the relationship between Murakami's fiction and contemporary Japanese culture. Breaking through conventional analysis, Seats demonstrates how Murakami's first and later trilogies utilize the structure of the simulacrum, a second-order representation, to develop a complex critique of contemporary Japanese culture. By outlining the critical-fictional contours of the "Murakami Phenomenon," the discussion confronts the vexing question of Japanese modernity and subjectivity within the contexts of the national-cultural imaginary. Seats finds mirroring comparisons between Murakami's works and practices in current media-entertainment technologies, indicating a new politics of representation.Murakami Haruki is a critical text for scholars and students of Japanese Studies and Critical Theory, and is an essential guide for those interested in modern Japanese literature. Review Murakami Haruki reinvigorates debate regarding Murakami's ultimate purpose and place as a writer, and his role in the larger debates concerning Japanese modernity and subjectivity, and is therefore a useful addition to the body of discourse on this important novelist.--The Journal of Japanese Studies About the Author Michael R. Seats is senior lecturer in the Division of Language Studies at City University of Hong Kong.