Emotional Dynamics, Escapism, and Storytelling in Haruki Murakami’s “Scheherazade” and “Kino”
Poster Number
22B
Research or Creativity Area
Humanities & Arts
Abstract
Translated into English from Japanese and published for western audiences in 2017, Haruki Murakami’s short story collection entitled Men Without Women explores complex dynamics between men and women, wherein men become emotionally orphaned by women in their orbit. Many of these men’s emotional states center around receiving love, comfort, and sexual intimacy from women, and hardly any of the men in these stories appear autonomous in their relationships. Throughout both “Scheherazade” and “Kino,” Murakami forges one inextricable link between femininity and emotional power, and another between masculinity and emotional inferiority. These dynamics stay largely the same throughout both short stories, despite the varied dynamics that each story entertains. Nonetheless, both men and women in these texts express strong desires to escape their circumstances, and rely on various forms of escapism to cope with their dissatisfaction for the present. In portraying these dynamics in both men and women in “Scheherazade” and “Kino,” Murakami perhaps suggests existential loneliness to be a universal part of the human condition, even if men and women express their misery in differing ways.
Location
Don and Karen DeRosa University Center (DUC) Poster Hall
Start Date
27-4-2024 10:30 AM
End Date
27-4-2024 12:30 PM
Emotional Dynamics, Escapism, and Storytelling in Haruki Murakami’s “Scheherazade” and “Kino”
Don and Karen DeRosa University Center (DUC) Poster Hall
Translated into English from Japanese and published for western audiences in 2017, Haruki Murakami’s short story collection entitled Men Without Women explores complex dynamics between men and women, wherein men become emotionally orphaned by women in their orbit. Many of these men’s emotional states center around receiving love, comfort, and sexual intimacy from women, and hardly any of the men in these stories appear autonomous in their relationships. Throughout both “Scheherazade” and “Kino,” Murakami forges one inextricable link between femininity and emotional power, and another between masculinity and emotional inferiority. These dynamics stay largely the same throughout both short stories, despite the varied dynamics that each story entertains. Nonetheless, both men and women in these texts express strong desires to escape their circumstances, and rely on various forms of escapism to cope with their dissatisfaction for the present. In portraying these dynamics in both men and women in “Scheherazade” and “Kino,” Murakami perhaps suggests existential loneliness to be a universal part of the human condition, even if men and women express their misery in differing ways.
