Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Val Scullion (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Roy Anthony Starrs, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.2.2: Japanese Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Mats Arne Karlsson (University of Sydney), Roy Anthony Starrs (University of Otago)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2006

Places

Japan (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

An acclaimed Japanese author, Haruki Murakami has created an immense literary and non-fictional oeuvre during his lifetime. Most of his short fiction and novels have been translated into English, rendering him a global best-seller, and, aside from the Nobel Prize for Literature, he has been awarded an abundance of prestigious literary prizes. The main focus of this article is his novel Kafka on the Shore (2005), which has received high critical praise.

Magical realism aptly describes the generic qualities of Kafka, and Murakami’s fiction in general. This genre may be usefully defined as “fiction in which the setting is realistic yet contains definite elements of the supernatural that call attention t…

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3258 words

Citation: Scullion, Val. "Kafka on the Shore". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 August 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20091, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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