Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

thoughts on japanese literature

26 Mar 2023 · 1 min

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0:49

In this informal YouTube commentary, the speaker shares how Haruki Murakami served as their entry point into Japanese literature. They describe a typical reading experience of Japanese novels—engaging until a sudden existential crisis at the end. The speaker highlights Murakami’s skill in portraying longing, referencing specific works such as Norwegian Wood and a book they call “Killing Commentaries.” They also praise Murakami’s own book on writing, noting the common writer’s compulsion to produce a guide on the craft once they reach a certain level of experience.

Chapters

Haruki Murakami, novelist as a vocation. I've read a lot of, um, Murakami's work. I think he was my introduction into Japanese literature, which, if you're not familiar, basically goes like you read a 150-page book and like the whole time you're like, I'm with it, I get it. And then you get to the last page and you're like, what is my life? Who am I as a person? Like existential crisis. And He writes so beautifully about longing. If you've read Norwegian Wood, I read Killing Commentaries, actually on my bookshelf as well. But I think that his book on writing was really great. I feel like it's, you get to a certain point as a writer and you're like legally obligated to write a book on writing. And he had gotten to that point.