A Journey of Self-Pursuit in Kafka on the Shore by Murakami Haruki

• Main Authors: Chen ching-i, 陳靜儀
• Other Authors: 楊茂秀
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/cd38jg

碩士 === 國立臺東大學 === 兒童文學研究所 === 95 === Murakami Haruki adopts the persona Kafka as both inner spiritual clues and a metaphorical framework in fiction to describe one’s existing loneliness and the absurdity of fate. This study aims to probe the images, circumstances and even precise languages in Franz Kafka’s fiction to contemplate the self-pursuit journey in Kafka on the Shore. The juvenile journey of self-pursuit went through three stages as below: 1. the dilemma: to run away from the curse; to flee from one’s foreordination 2. the discovery: a world of misunderstanding; reflections via actions 3. the reversal: the pursuit of self-identity Murakami Haruki presented a great quantity of utilizing and exploring in the story just like Kafka’s. Also, Haruki masterly slipped the fate of the juvenile escape with Oedipus myth. By means of the deep marking of tragic fate, the story exhibits human existence via metaphoric-dialogue-scene and enriches the variety in the story discussion. All the conundrums in the story tend to make the readers comprehend the purport of explanation/creation-metamorphosis rather than restoring/reshaping. The vivid characterizations of personas and the surreal dialogue lead the young hero toward an unreal and extremely real pursuit journey.