Consumerism and the Possibility of an Authentic Self in Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship

Burcu Genç¹ 

[1] University of Tokyo, Japan;

关键词: contemporary Japanese literature;    Haruki Murakami;    consumerism;    Japanese society;    Jean Baudrillard;    power;   

DOI  :  10.22492/ijl.4.1.06

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

With reference to Jean Baudrillard’s theory of consumerism embedded in his scrutiny of power, this paper investigates the possibilities of an authentic self in Haruki Murakami’s novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World within the context of Japanese consumerism in the 1970s and early 1980s. By alluding to the Baudrillardian discourse, I argue that the protagonist’s choice to abandon his shadow at the very end of the novel is closely linked with his attempt to find an authentic self: in other words, an attempt to liberate himself from the power consumerism exerts on him.

【 授权许可】

Unknown