The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

One of the prevailing themes of this novel is human-disconnectedness in contemporary society. I have been finding post-modern readings of his novels to be very useful in helping me flesh out which scenes I want to pull from the novel.

From this resource:
The Unfinished Cartography: Murakami Haruki and the Postmodern Cognitive Map
Author(s): Chiyoko Kawakami
Source: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 309-337
Published by: Sophia University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3096769
Accessed: 15/02/2010 14:18

The Trivia of Urban Life
Murakami’s narrative fills the ideological void with the enumeration of all-visible
material things. Early in Murakami’s career, “things” became indispensable
ingredients in his stories. His narrative characteristically grows as it weaves together
“the trivia of contemporary urban life.”

…

Murakami’s narrative makes use of this “parade of trivia” as an intermediary
factor, as something connecting characters who seem too isolated to explore any
social relationship on their own. The degree of the objects’ intervention seems
to correlate to the degree of the characters’ isolation: the more pompous the
“parade of trivia,” the more haphazard and transient the human relations appear.

…

Murakami’s works represent
the “condensed” form of “the massive material of city life” through which
he seeks to present his vision of the contemporary “condition [of
life] itself.” Or, to use Hana Wirth-Nesher’ s terms, things are “what is present”
and thus visible; they are the plenitude through which the city-novel highlights
“what is absent,” that is, in Murakami’s case, the sense of the self.

The main character of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is obsessed with pasta, ironing shirts, sandwiches, and everyday chores such as shopping for groceries. Murakami’s writing style also heightens this over-articulation of the everyday.

“I had cut two slices of bread, spread them with butter and whole-grain mustard, filled them with tomato slices and cheese, set the whole thing on the cutting board, and I was just about to cut it in half when the bell started ringing. I let the phone ring three times and cut the sandwich in half. Then I transferred it to a plate, wiped the knife, and put that in the cutlery drawer, before pouring myself a cup of the coffee I had warmed up. Still the phone went on ringing.”

The pivotal point near the beginning of the novel was a disagreement between Toru and his wife Kumiko over the choice of ingredients and toiletries. Toru notes: “Only much later did it occur to me that I had found my way into the core of the problem.”

Kumiko, who leaves her husband in the beginning of the novel, is described as a meticulous woman who treasures a large collection of well-tailored, tasteful and high quality garments. When Toru comes to realize her absence, he finds it striking that she would leave her wardrobe behind.