Blog Post #5

 At the start of class I don't think I really gave too much thought about the naming convention for Murakami, especially because I don't speak Japanese. I previously thought of names as just that -- a way to refer to someone or a character. I had some idea that names using character based languages (like Chinese and Japanese) have distinct meanings as per the written characters, but I never really tried to figure out the meaning of the names. After reading Stretcher's article about Murakami and his use of magical realism, only then did I have a realization about HM's characters. My realization came from the Stretcher's analysis of the four characters in Murakami's Colorless short story and how their naming convention reflect distinctive characteristics, like how Shirane (Shiro) is aptly described white root, due to her beauty and model-like figure, as being firmly planted in the group and her beliefs. Another example would be Oumi (Ao) is written as blue sea, who washes over some of his opponents during his rugby matches (and how rainfall is a significant point of conversation in the chapter). Perhaps I'd like to do something like this in my short story. 

As the course inevitably comes to an end, I definitely feel like my appreciation for Murakami's work has grown. I guess that means this class has done it's job haha. I might have to read more of his short stories and I appreciate having been exposed to so many of his influences. Something I noticed is that it's easier to read Murakami's work first, then to find the comparison in the influencer's text afterward. Murakami likes to take a few things and run with it in his text, versus making a carbon copy with a few rewords or recontextualizations. 

For the sake of writing down ideas so I won't forget, there are a few ideas I'm trying to incorporate with my short story. For characters, I wanted to use the proverb "hear no/see no/speak no evil" to create those particular characters and utilize some of HM's ability to describe characters and their demeanor solely from descriptions. For magical realism, I wanted to make each character able to understand content despite having an impairment which would treat them as normal characters but the names would remind the reader that they still have a disability. I also wanted a vanishing act kind of thing whenever a character "xyz evil" (heard, spoke, saw, etc.) but I think I'm going to skip this part because it would make the story kind of regimented into fine > problem > disappear > repeat. In terms of pure structure, I don't know if I want to make it straight bodies of text like in the short stories we've been reading or if I want to make it more chapter-like like the influencer's works we've read. I do see benefits to using either style but I might keep it as straight text with maybe line breaks to denote an end of a certain section.

Thanks for a great semester and I can't wait to present my final work later :)

Alexander Wen