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Ah, there it is. It wouldn't be an online discussion of Murakami without at least one person vehemently arguing that his work is garbage, that most Japanese peo
by hudibras 8y ago
Ah, there it is. It wouldn't be an online discussion of Murakami without at least one person vehemently arguing that his work is garbage, that most Japanese people don't care about him, and that his novels don't reflect Real Japan.
- euske 8y agoI actually think that most people in Japan don't really care about him. Grew up in Japan as a native, very few of my friends actually read his novel. Everyone knows he's a famous author, but that doesn't mean his work is popular among the masses. I wouldn't say it's garbage, but I tend to think he's famous mostly because all the critics praise him.
- hudibras 8y agoI didn't mean that he was wrong, only that they were trite observations that somebody always mentions. Even the fact that his work is not popular among the masses doesn't add much to the conversation, any more than pointing out that the average American doesn't care about Jeffrey Eugenides, Toni Morrison, Jonathan Franzen, or Thomas Pynchon...
- jen729w 8y agoIn fairness you could say the same about most Western 'literature'. Most people don't read Steinbeck or Roth or Atwood. Most people read Dan Brown and their Facebook feed.