<p><div>As a spokesman for disaffected youth of the post-1960s, Murakami Haruki has become one of the most important voices in contemporary Japanese literature, and he has gained a following in the United States through translations of his works. In <i>Dances with Sheep</i>, Matthew Strecher examines Murakami's fiction--and, to a lesser extent, his nonfiction--for its most prevalent structures and themes. Strecher also delves into the paradoxes in Murakami's writings that confront critics and casual readers alike. Murakami writes of "serious" themes yet expresses them in a relatively uncomplicated style that appeals to high school students as well as scholars; and his fictional work appears to celebrate the pastiche of postmodern expression, yet he rejects the effects of the postmodern on contemporary culture as dangerous.</div> <div>Strecher's methodology is both historical and cultural as he utilizes four distinct yet interwoven approaches to analyze Murakami's major works: the writer's "formulaic" structure with serious themes; his play with magical realism; the intense psychological underpinnings of his literary landscape; and his critique of language and its capacity to represent realities, past and present. <i>Dances with Sheep</i> links each of these approaches with Murakami's critical focus on the fate of individual identity in contemporary Japan. The result is that the simplicity of the Murakami hero, marked by lethargy and nostalgia, emerges as emblematic of contemporary humankind, bereft of identity, direction, and meaning. Murakami's fiction is reconstructed in <i>Dances with Sheep</i> as a warning against the dehumanizing effects of late-model capitalism, the homogenization of the marketplace, and the elimination of effective counterculture in Japan.</div></p>

Dances with Sheep: The Quest for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies)

Literature & Fiction

Strecher, Matthew

History & Criticism

U of M Center For Japanese Studies

<p>This is an excellent guide to Haruki Murakami's extraordinary novel. It features a biography of the author (including an interview), a full-length analysis of the novel, and a great deal more. If you're studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you'll find this guide informative and helpful. This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years from 'The Remains of the Day' to 'White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.</p>

Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)

Continuum

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Books by Strecher, Matthew

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Strecher, Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dances with Sheep: The Quest for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies)

Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries)