"Ohne Kampf, Hass und Begierde gibt es auch das Gegenteil nicht - keine Freude, kein Glück, keine Liebe. Gerade weil es Verzweiflung, Enttäuschung und Trauer gibt, entsteht Freude. Ohne Verzweiflung kann es auch kein Glück geben."
[Without fight, hate and desire, there is no opposite - no happiness, no luck, no love. Exactly because there is despair, disappointment and sadness, happiness can emerge. Without despair there is no happiness.] transl. by dianareadsbooks
'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World', one of Haruki Murakami's earlier novels, was published in 1985.
Contrary to his typical style of Magical Realism, it is rather to be categorized as Si-Fi/Dystopia.
One cannot help but wonder if this time 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells was an inspiration for the creation of certain settings and characters, while in most of his other work one can find a stronger resemblance to Kafka and Dostojewski.
The plot is divided into two parts: the part of the Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the part of The End of the World.
In the beginning of Hard-Boiled Wonderland, we meet the protagonist who is a calculator and on his way to a job.
In Murakami-manner, the male, single and lonesome protagonist meets a young girl who isn't really considered pretty but has a certain aura around her that makes her incredible attractive.
She leads him to her grandfather, a scientist who plays a key role in the further storyline.
The first chapters are already stacked with tropes of Magical Realism and elements of Si-Fi/Dystopia that are missing in his later work.
The many labyrinth-scenes which lead the character(s) down the rabbit hole and back, the possibility to turn on and off the sound at free will and the ability of dream-reading are probably the strongest indicators of Magical Realism.
The protagonist gets sucked into a confusing mess of criminals, science and the-world-ending, only to find himself to be the cause and release at the same time. He seems to be the only one who could stop the world from ending.
"Ich hatte Dinge verloren, denen ich keine große Bedeutung beigemessen und deren Verlust mich erst später geschmerzt hatte - und umgekehrt. Ich hatte Dinge verloren, Menschen und Gefühle."
[I had lost things which I didn't grant any meaning and of which loss I was only hurt later - and vice versa. I lost things, people and feelings.] transl. by dianareadsbooks
The End of the World is the other story line that begins with the protagonist gaining consciousness inside a town guarded by a insurmountable wall and guard.
In this town, unicorns are the animals of choice. They seem to be randomly led out of the town in the morning and brought back in in the evening via the only entrance.
As the protagonist finds out only later, the unicorns have an essential role for the town's existence.
He transitions to becoming a citizen of that town with all its conditions - the most important one being the severing of one's shadow which will inevitably lead to him losing his soul.
He is allowed to visit his shadow from time to time but only with the promise of not uniting with it, again.
His shadow lives with the guard and has to help him cremate the unicorns that have died (allegedly) because of the cold. This way, he gets a better insight into how this town works and is able to pass this knowledge on to the clueless protagonist.
The protagonist's job is to read old dreams out of unicorn sculls in the library with the help of a female librarian.
He develops a romantic interest in her which she cannot reciprocate because she has lost her shadow long ago and therefore, does not seem to have a soul, anymore.
Although he does not understand the dreams' meaning, he continues to read them.
As his time in the town goes on, he loses more and more of his memories and essentially has to make a decision between his shadow and the librarian.It becomes more and more evident that The End of the World is a creation of the (Hard-Boiled Wonderland's) protagonist's subconscious, in which the happenings and characters overlap.
Overall, this is probably my least favourite Murakami.
I missed his typical style of slow character description as this storyline was more action-driven. Moreover, I refer the books of his in which the Magical Realism is more prominent instead of the Si-Fi-elements.
The casual integration of Inklings (Schwärzlinge) and the unicorns who
are folklore beings into the storyline, the creation of a whole new
world within the existing world and the movement towards The End of the World are strong indicators for a Dystopia.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed recognizing a resemblance to the 'Time Machine' by H.G. Wells.
The underground sewage system with its Inklings who are trying to grab passers-by are eerily similar to the Morlocks who evolved into underground creatures who are grabbing the Eloi of the surface.
Even even protagonists are similar in going down the rabbit hole and coming back up and then going back down, having to adapt in a strange new world while losing control.
The young girl who is the scientist's granddaughter resembles Weena in her way of stubbornly following the protagonist (Although the granddaughter exceeds Weena in matters of intellect and ability to survive by far).
What do you think of this Murakami?
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