Loneliness as the New Human Condition in Murakami Ryū's In za miso sūpu

Otaku-ness, space, violence and sexuality

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v9i3.893

Keywords:

Japanese literature, Heisei literature, loneliness, Murakami Ryū, Kabuki-chō, Tokyo, otaku

Abstract

This article analyses how loneliness is depicted as a diagnosis of the time in Murakami Ryū’s (born 1952) hard-boiled novel In za miso sūpu (In the miso soup). Three conceptualisations of loneliness are hermeneutically analysed to show how loneliness is narrated and contextualised. As the analysis reveals, loneliness functions as an utterance of crisis experiences and of perceived insecurities and highlights socio-psychological phenomena considered characteristic of 1990s Japan.

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A night scene in Tokyo

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Published

2022-08-03