This thesis is an examination of the concept and the term "superflat" as it is elaborated by the Japanese artist Murakami Takashi in his writings, in the exhibition he curated under the same name, and in his own art. / Its aim is to contextualize Murakami's project on one hand in terms of a similar attempt to define a Japanese national aesthetic in the early 20 th century, and on the other in terms of the 1990's tendency to return to Edo Japan to find the "origins" of Japan's postmodernity. / Murakami's own art is then turned to in order to both elaborate on and test the aesthetic of Japanese art he calls the superflat. This examination of Murakami's art permits the formulation of an aesthetics of Japanese contemporary art and animation even as it will afford an understanding of the "cultural logic" of the digital age that informs Murakami's argument. / Questions important to this project are: Is the articulation of a local aesthetics possible in this globalizing age? What are the aesthetic traits of the digital age? How should the superflat---as both idea and project---be interpreted?

Este estudo traz para a discussão, no primeiro capítulo, o mangá como expressão artística, cujo modelo de criação se distingue dos demais quadrinhos pela pluralidade e diversidade de gêneros. São apresentados estudos sobre a linguagem visual das histórias em quadrinhos a partir de teorias ocidentais e japoneses que se correlacionam, como a forma de desenho de quadros, balões, hiatos, linhas cinéticas, metáforas visuais e suas características de linguagem universal. As linhas, planos de fundo e composições das páginas estabelecem relações com a arte tradicional japonesa dos emakimono (rolos de pintura), das xilogravuras ukiyo-e e das padronagens dos quimonos, sendo por isso analisados tais elementos. Ainda, abordam-se as onomatopeias, característica peculiar da língua japonesa que se revelam como subsídios necessários para valorizar sensações e emoções na narrativa, mesmo quando o silêncio é proposto; acentua-se também o grafismo visual que as integram à cena. Por fim, são levantadas as características na construção dos personagens, como a forma dada a corpos e olhos e as expressões faciais, que têm forte semelhança com as figuras das xilogravuras ukiyo-e, das revistas ilustradas Jojô-ga e das desenhadas por Osamu Tezuka. O segundo capítulo põe em debate o boom do mangá, animê e da cultura otaku do pós-guerra, que se apresentam para os artistas japoneses, da década de 1990, como elementos importantes para a produção de suas obras: assim se inserem os trabalhos de Takashi Murakami e Yoshitomo Nara, em suas relações com o mangá e com as artes tradicionais. Mesmo com ideais distintos, esses artistas participaram do movimento Neo Pop japonês e da exposição Super Flat (2000), e repensaram suas produções a partir da catástrofe natural de 2011. Pela dificuldade em encontrar bibliografia, muitas das informações obtidas nesta pesquisa se basearam em textos de jornais, curadores e críticos de arte ocidentais e japoneses, bem como na visitação a exposições dos artistas no Japão. Soma-se a esse capítulo a estética kawaii cujo ideal revela um universo infantilizado, que influencia as artes, se fortalece pelo fomento da indústria pop nipônica, atravessa as fronteiras para o ocidente e por isso se configura como produto de identidade nacional. As obras dos artistas supracitados dialogam com essa estética e também com a estética basara, que ostenta aquilo que é exuberante e luxuoso. / In its first chapter, this study arises the discussion of the manga as an artistic expression. Its creation model is distinguished from other comics by the plurality and diversity of genres. It presents studies on the visual language of comics from Western and Japanese theories which correlates, such as how to design panel, balloons, gutter, motion lines, living lines and they characteristics of universal language. The lines, backgrounds and pages compositions establish relations with the Japanese traditional art of emakimono (paint rollers), ukiyo-e woodblock prints and kimonos patterns, and have, therefore, such elements analyzed. Furthermore, approach the onomatopoeia, a peculiar characteristic of the Japanese language that reveal as necessary support to value sensations and emotions in the narrative, even when silence is proposed; it also accentuates the visual graphics that are part of the scene. Finally, the features are lifted in the construction of the characters, as the form given to bodies and eyes and facial expressions, which have strong resemblance to the woodblock ukiyo-eimages, the illustrated magazines Jojo-ga and drawn by Osamu Tezuka. The second chapter puts on the manga boom debate, anime and otaku culture of the postwar period, which are presented to the Japanese artists of the 1990s, as important elements for the production of their artworks: thus are inserted the work of Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, in its relations with the manga and traditional arts. Even with ideal distinct, these artists participated in the movement Neo Japanese Pop and exposure Super Flat (2000), and rethought their production from natural disaster 2011. The difficulty in finding bibliography, much of the information obtained in this study were based on newspaper texts, curators and critics of Western and Japanese art, as well as visits to exhibitions of artists in Japan. Added to this chapter kawaii aesthetic ideal which reveals infantile universe, which influences the arts, strengthened by foment Nipponese pop industry, crosses borders to the West and so is configured as national identity product. The artworks of the above artists dialogue with this aesthetic and also with basara aesthetics, which boasts what is exuberant and luxurious.

Este estudo traz para a discussão, no primeiro capítulo, o mangá como expressão artística, cujo modelo de criação se distingue dos demais quadrinhos pela pluralidade e diversidade de gêneros. São apresentados estudos sobre a linguagem visual das histórias em quadrinhos a partir de teorias ocidentais e japoneses que se correlacionam, como a forma de desenho de quadros, balões, hiatos, linhas cinéticas, metáforas visuais e suas características de linguagem universal. As linhas, planos de fundo e composições das páginas estabelecem relações com a arte tradicional japonesa dos emakimono (rolos de pintura), das xilogravuras ukiyo-e e das padronagens dos quimonos, sendo por isso analisados tais elementos. Ainda, abordam-se as onomatopeias, característica peculiar da língua japonesa que se revelam como subsídios necessários para valorizar sensações e emoções na narrativa, mesmo quando o silêncio é proposto; acentua-se também o grafismo visual que as integram à cena. Por fim, são levantadas as características na construção dos personagens, como a forma dada a corpos e olhos e as expressões faciais, que têm forte semelhança com as figuras das xilogravuras ukiyo-e, das revistas ilustradas Jojô-ga e das desenhadas por Osamu Tezuka. O segundo capítulo põe em debate o boom do mangá, animê e da cultura otaku do pós-guerra, que se apresentam para os artistas japoneses, da década de 1990, como elementos importantes para a produção de suas obras: assim se inserem os trabalhos de Takashi Murakami e Yoshitomo Nara, em suas relações com o mangá e com as artes tradicionais. Mesmo com ideais distintos, esses artistas participaram do movimento Neo Pop japonês e da exposição Super Flat (2000), e repensaram suas produções a partir da catástrofe natural de 2011. Pela dificuldade em encontrar bibliografia, muitas das informações obtidas nesta pesquisa se basearam em textos de jornais, curadores e críticos de arte ocidentais e japoneses, bem como na visitação a exposições dos artistas no Japão. Soma-se a esse capítulo a estética kawaii cujo ideal revela um universo infantilizado, que influencia as artes, se fortalece pelo fomento da indústria pop nipônica, atravessa as fronteiras para o ocidente e por isso se configura como produto de identidade nacional. As obras dos artistas supracitados dialogam com essa estética e também com a estética basara, que ostenta aquilo que é exuberante e luxuoso. / In its first chapter, this study arises the discussion of the manga as an artistic expression. Its creation model is distinguished from other comics by the plurality and diversity of genres. It presents studies on the visual language of comics from Western and Japanese theories which correlates, such as how to design panel, balloons, gutter, motion lines, living lines and they characteristics of universal language. The lines, backgrounds and pages compositions establish relations with the Japanese traditional art of emakimono (paint rollers), ukiyo-e woodblock prints and kimonos patterns, and have, therefore, such elements analyzed. Furthermore, approach the onomatopoeia, a peculiar characteristic of the Japanese language that reveal as necessary support to value sensations and emotions in the narrative, even when silence is proposed; it also accentuates the visual graphics that are part of the scene. Finally, the features are lifted in the construction of the characters, as the form given to bodies and eyes and facial expressions, which have strong resemblance to the woodblock ukiyo-eimages, the illustrated magazines Jojo-ga and drawn by Osamu Tezuka. The second chapter puts on the manga boom debate, anime and otaku culture of the postwar period, which are presented to the Japanese artists of the 1990s, as important elements for the production of their artworks: thus are inserted the work of Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, in its relations with the manga and traditional arts. Even with ideal distinct, these artists participated in the movement Neo Japanese Pop and exposure Super Flat (2000), and rethought their production from natural disaster 2011. The difficulty in finding bibliography, much of the information obtained in this study were based on newspaper texts, curators and critics of Western and Japanese art, as well as visits to exhibitions of artists in Japan. Added to this chapter kawaii aesthetic ideal which reveals infantile universe, which influences the arts, strengthened by foment Nipponese pop industry, crosses borders to the West and so is configured as national identity product. The artworks of the above artists dialogue with this aesthetic and also with basara aesthetics, which boasts what is exuberant and luxurious.

Murakami Haruki est probablement l'auteur le plus célèbre et le plus largement traduit de sa génération. Ce succès mondial, que la critique a parfois pu expliquer par l'occidentalisation de l'auteur, nous semble plutôt reposer sur une utilisation habile de l'intertextualité. Notre étude, après une présentation générale de la notion d'intertextualité, s'attache à déterminer les divers mouvements intertextuels chez l'auteur ; d'abord, en s'intéressant à l'intertextualité externe, qu'elle intervienne au plan microstructural, avec la référence et la citation, ou macrostructural, avec le pastiche et la parodie. Ensuite, en revenant sur l'intertextualité interne, également appelée intratextualité, si prégnante chez Murakami et qui structure son œuvre en réseau d'univers labiles. Nous verrons enfin que cette intertextualité massive pose question tant du point de vue critique, avec la problématique de la postmodernité, que du point de vue du lecteur, avec celle de la réception. / Murakami Haruki is often said to be one of the most famous and most widely translated Japanese authors of his generation. This worldwide success, which have sometimes been explained by critics regarding the author's occidentalization, is, for us, rather based on a clever use of intertextuality. Our study, after a general presentation of the notion of intertextuality, sets out to determine the various intertextual movements in the author's works. First, by analyzing external intertextuality, whether it occurs on a microstructural (with references and quotations) or macrostructural plan (with the use of pastiche and parody). Then, by analyzing internal intertextuality (also called intratextuality), which structures his works in a labile worlds' network. We will finally see that this massive intertextuality is an important issue both for critical (with the question of postmodernity) and reader's (with the question of reception of the works) points of view.

<p>In this essay a novel by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami, <em>The Wind-up Bird Chronicle</em>, is examined through dreams as a psychoanalytical phenomenon or spectacle. The novel is a complex work but mainly circles around the main character Toru, a middle-aged man in modern Japan whose wife leaves him unexpectedly. The focus in this essay is on the dream symbols in this novel and how they have a narrative function, i.e., how the symbols can be tied to the main character Toru’s real life problems, more specifically, his problems with femininity. The psychoanalytical approaches used in this essay are Sigmund Freud’s and C G Jung’s theories on dreams. Material from another novel by Murakami, <em>Norwegian Wood</em>, which contains the same type of symbolic imagery as <em>The Wind-up Bird</em>, is also included.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 322-336). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Mary Gibson; submitted to the Dept. of English. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jun. 7, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-271).

In this essay a novel by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, is examined through dreams as a psychoanalytical phenomenon or spectacle. The novel is a complex work but mainly circles around the main character Toru, a middle-aged man in modern Japan whose wife leaves him unexpectedly. The focus in this essay is on the dream symbols in this novel and how they have a narrative function, i.e., how the symbols can be tied to the main character Toru’s real life problems, more specifically, his problems with femininity. The psychoanalytical approaches used in this essay are Sigmund Freud’s and C G Jung’s theories on dreams. Material from another novel by Murakami, Norwegian Wood, which contains the same type of symbolic imagery as The Wind-up Bird, is also included.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera hur den magiska realismen påverkar verkligheten i Haruki Murakamis roman 1Q84. I romanen framträder en ny verklighet där vedertagna idéer om tid, rum, identitet sätts på prov, vilket är vanligt inom just magisk realism. Metoden för analysen är en närläsning av 1Q84 och utgår från Franz Rohs nästan hundra år gamla definition av magisk realism och även Wendy B. Faris teoretiska kriterier för magisk realism. Roh hävdade att magisk realism sätter verkligheten i ett nytt ljus och ska inbjuda till att upptäcka livets mysterier som gömmer sig bakom verkligheten. Faris har tagit fram fem kriterier för den magiska realismen och det som denna uppsats framförallt fokuserat på är hur två världar möts och ifrågasättandet av idéer.   I analysen diskuteras hur de två månar som finns i romanens nya verklighet dels kan ses som en illustration av den magiska realismen, dels som en symbol för en ny tidsålder. Med hjälp av vardagliga ting sätter romanen verkligheten i nytt ljus, precis som Roh menade att magisk realism ska göra. Även förvrängningar och förstärkningar av ting leder till att gränserna för det sannolika förskjuts. Ifrågasättanden av begreppen tid, rum och identitet lyfts särskilt fram i analysen och det är tydligt att romanen använder drag som är typiska för den magiska realismen och på detta sätt utmanar gränserna för det möjliga. Slutsatsen blir att med hjälp av berättartekniken magisk realism sätter 1Q84 verkligheten i ett nytt ljus och inbjuder både karaktärer och läsare till en inre reflektion.

In Murakami's detective novels, pop culture references, irony, and hard-boiled genre conventions combine with magic realist prose to articulate the search for individual identity in a Japanese milieu structured by traditional communal values. At the same time, Murakami's work remains grounded in Japanese literary tradition, and he sees himself very much as a product of modern Japan. The thesis traces the blending of these diverse tendencies in three of Murakami’s most popular novels: A Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and Dance, Dance, Dance. The Introduction provides an overview of the product, critical reception of Murakami's body of work, and my methodological approach. The overview provides the cultural and social background for the individual/corporate tension within his novels. Then, I examine current critical debates surrounding Murakami's works including his position as a postmodern writer and his status as a national author. In my methodology section, I outline my Marxist, new historicist and psychoanalytic critical approaches to Murakami's work followed by an exploration of his use of magic realist prose within the detective genre. Each of the next three chapters provides a close reading of one of the novels in which I examine through Murakami's recurring stylistic method the progression of his exploration of identity. The conclusion argues that the sense of coherence in Murakami's writing project stems from a recurring stylistic method and consistent effort to suggest new forms of living out Japanese cultural identity in postmodern, globalized terms.