Scan barcode
A review by alisarae
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
5.0
I've always enjoyed Murakami's nonfiction more than his fiction, and this collection of essays is a fascinating insight into his life as a novelist and Japanese perceptions of his work.
My favorite essay was "Regarding Schools." It is a critique of the societal problems that arise from an emphasis on efficiency over individual wellbeing. "When a lethal system that could destroy a country is managed by corporations that prioritize numbers and efficiency over anything else, and when this is led and supervised by a bureaucracy that is built on rote memorization and top-down decision making, one that lacks any sympathy toward humanity, then you can be sure that very serious risks will arise." Murakami was using the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster as an example of a broader systemic problem in Japanese culture, one that quashes individual imagination and opens no space for questioning. The school system fuels this culture, and its malfeasance manifests in children, "the canaries in the coal mine," as Japan's world-renowned problem with ijime (barbaric bullying) and school truancy. I believe every country laments the defects in its educational system, but the canaries in the coal mine comment got me thinking about what the problems among American or Brazilian youth have to say about the society's systemic ills, and how the school system may be contributing to raising adults who perpetuate those problems.
The detailed look at his writing process was interesting. I always like learning about how other people work. He writes 1600 words a day in a stream of consciousness style; followed by 3 manuscript revisions: structural, scenes, and line work; then a complete rewrite of any scene his wife notes; followed by more line work; and then rewrites of any scene noted by his editor; followed by line edits on multiple printing proofs (he says he goes through 10 pencils in this stage). Quite frankly it sounds exhausting, but he claims to love tinkering. He also goes into his theory that smart people don't have the patience to become career novelists because they think too fast and reach the point too quickly; mediocre thinkers make good novelists because it takes a long time for them to reach a conclusion and they don't mind spending the time because that comes naturally. It's a theory, anyways.
I enjoyed his guiding mantra that writing should be an inherently enjoyable process. Write to please yourself and have fun; you will surely have critics no matter what, so you might as well have a good time while you are doing it.
My favorite essay was "Regarding Schools." It is a critique of the societal problems that arise from an emphasis on efficiency over individual wellbeing. "When a lethal system that could destroy a country is managed by corporations that prioritize numbers and efficiency over anything else, and when this is led and supervised by a bureaucracy that is built on rote memorization and top-down decision making, one that lacks any sympathy toward humanity, then you can be sure that very serious risks will arise." Murakami was using the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster as an example of a broader systemic problem in Japanese culture, one that quashes individual imagination and opens no space for questioning. The school system fuels this culture, and its malfeasance manifests in children, "the canaries in the coal mine," as Japan's world-renowned problem with ijime (barbaric bullying) and school truancy. I believe every country laments the defects in its educational system, but the canaries in the coal mine comment got me thinking about what the problems among American or Brazilian youth have to say about the society's systemic ills, and how the school system may be contributing to raising adults who perpetuate those problems.
The detailed look at his writing process was interesting. I always like learning about how other people work. He writes 1600 words a day in a stream of consciousness style; followed by 3 manuscript revisions: structural, scenes, and line work; then a complete rewrite of any scene his wife notes; followed by more line work; and then rewrites of any scene noted by his editor; followed by line edits on multiple printing proofs (he says he goes through 10 pencils in this stage). Quite frankly it sounds exhausting, but he claims to love tinkering. He also goes into his theory that smart people don't have the patience to become career novelists because they think too fast and reach the point too quickly; mediocre thinkers make good novelists because it takes a long time for them to reach a conclusion and they don't mind spending the time because that comes naturally. It's a theory, anyways.
I enjoyed his guiding mantra that writing should be an inherently enjoyable process. Write to please yourself and have fun; you will surely have critics no matter what, so you might as well have a good time while you are doing it.