Japanese author Haruki Murakami met with students to discuss his book After the Quake: Stories at the First-Year Academic Workshop on Saturday. He focused his discussion on narratives and what readers can take from them.
“In some ways a narrative is like a dream. You just pass through it. You just experience it,” Murakami said. “I don’t know what narratives can actually accomplish. But I want to believe in the power of fiction.”
He also discussed the bonds people can form from reading these narratives, saying that even a small connection is helpful.
“If you feel something from my stories, no matter how small or insignificant, it means we are sharing something – part of a dream,” he said. “Perhaps this sharing feeling may comfort us, warm us up, maybe just a little bit.”
Speaking on the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Murakami also discussed the Kobe, Japan, earthquake, the subway gassing in Tokyo and life in the wake of these and other tragedies.
“Our proud success was both fragile and superficial,” he said. “The ground we stood on was much less solid than we thought, both physically and metaphorically.”
Murakami also discussed the process of writing short stories.
“Writing a short story takes a lot of imagination. Sometimes I appreciate less information because less information means more imagination to me,” he said.
Murakami said that “fragments develop into stories,” and this is how he builds his narratives. He also encouraged students not to be afraid of failure when it comes to writing.
“Nobody can write masterpieces all the time. It’s like a wave, it goes up and down. The writer needs to catch the wave. Don’t be afraid to fail,” he added. “The point is to write a lot and you will find the rhythm of the wave.”
Freshmen were required to read his book over the summer and to write a one-page paper analyzing a prevalent theme.
Serafina Hager, chair and associate professor of the Italian department, who organized the workshop, said she was pleased with its outcome as well as the students’ attendance and enthusiasm.
“I feel I am echoing the reaction of several colleagues I saw after the workshop. We felt Murakami’s comments were witty and reflected his genuine interest in provoking a reaction in his readers,” Hager said. “It thrilled me to see such enthusiasm in our students.”
Some first-year students said they found the lecture impressive, interesting and humorous.
“I thought his humor was evident in his lecture and he engaged the audience well,”
Sevan Angacian (SFS ’08) said. “I really enjoyed meeting the author. It was such an imaginative collection of short stories.”
Melvin Peralta (COL ’08) said she was impressed by urakami’s honesty. “He did not try to sound as if he crafted his book through genius but instead wrote each short story one at a time with mere random consequences,” he said.
Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1949 and grew up in Kobe. He has spent time in the United States teaching at Princeton and Tufts universities.
His works have been translated into 30 languages and he has been the recipient of numerous writing awards.
The First-Year Academic Workshop was sponsored by the Watson Foundation and the Fred Marino (FLL ’68) family.