Keywords

Ecofeminism, Ecocriticism, Ecopsychology, Urban Ecocriticism, Place, Landscapes, Cityscapes, Psychescapes

Abstract

In Murakami's Norwegian Wood, romance and coming-of-age confront the growing trend of postmodernity that leads to a discontinuity of life becoming more and more common in post-war Japan. As the narrator struggles through a monotonous daily existence, the text gives the reader access to the narrator's struggle for self- and societal identity. In the end, he finds his means of self-acceptance through escape, and his escape is a product of his attempts at negotiating the multiple settings or "scapes" in which he finds himself. The thesis follows the narrator through his navigation of these scapes and seeks to examine the different way that each of these scapes enables him to attempt to negotiate his role in an indifferent and increasingly consumerist society. The Introduction discusses my overview of the project, gives specifics about Murakami's life and critical reception and outlines my particular methodology. In the overview section, I address the cultural and societal tensions and changes that have occurred since the Second World War. Following this section, I provide a brief critical history of Murakami's texts, displaying not only his popularity, but also the multiple disagreements that arise over the Japanese-ness of his work. In my methodology section, I plot my eco-critical, eco-feminist, eco-psychological and deconstructive procedure for dissecting Murakami's text. The subsequent chapters perform a close reading of Murakami's text, outlining the different scapes and their attempts at establishing identity. Within these chapters, I have utilized subheadings as I felt they were needed to mark a change not on theme, but on character and emphasis. My conclusion reasserts my initial argument and further establishes the multiscapes as crucial negotiations, the price and product of which is self-identity.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2005

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Murphy, Patrick D.

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

English

Degree Program

English

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000440

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000440

Language

English

Release Date

May 2005

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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