Luka Iwaki Discussion 1

The quote “Literature is painting, architecture, and music.” by Yevgeny Zamyatin describes what literature means to me. A good literature consists of a clear structure that helps the reader imagine the scenes clearly as well as being able to read the story fluently. Taking my favorite novel 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami for example, this novel follows a story of two different main characters (three different characters from book 3) and both character’s stories takes place in a same city in Tokyo, except that one of the characters is in the same city in a parallel world and the other is in the real world. Then imaginary dwarves, peculiar 17 year-old author, a religious cult, and an assassin who’s side job is a yoga instructor starts to get involved and the entire story gets very confusing, but surprisingly it all mingles together perfectly. This is because Murakami has perfected the style of magical realism. Even with all the confusing elements of the novel, his clarity in the overall structure as well as Murakami’s word choice makes it easy for the reader to imagine the scene and makes it easier to distinct between the current world and the other magical world. Lastly, the flow of the story is music-like both literally and metaphorically. All the Murakami novels follow a classical or a jazz piece and the story is based on those pieces, but metaphorically, Murakami’s stories, both long and short, has a flow no other author has where the reader is sucked in to the story, being unable to put down the book until the reader finishes the book.