Abstract

This chapter presents a discussion of philosophical themes and references in Murakami’s novel Kafka on the Shore. This is organised around desire and love, consciousness and pan-psychism, action and tragedy, solitude and community, inner consciousness and responsibility, metaphor and aesthetics. The chapter argues that pan-psychism and the psychic world are metaphors which bring some temporary order to the chaos of chance and some temporary relief from the unpredictable consequences of action. Chance and unpredictable consequences of actions make for a tragic world. Enduring tragedy is a necessary part of the development of the self. Aesthetic and erotic experiences, in which we reach new stages of development, serve this ethical-tragic process. Pan-psychism is a convenient metaphor for the attempted unity of experiences and the communication between individual consciousness, along with the role of dreams and imagination. Irony enables us to understand the negative consequences of well-intended actions and is an indication of how we can try to order the world. Metaphor is the necessary element for finding order in the chaos. References to Hegel and Bergson enable us to understand the place of consciousness in Murakami without him writing a Hegelian or Bergsonian novel. Indirect reference to Arendt directs us towards the role of imagination in ethics. References to Plato are suggestive with regard to the role of love as an ideal.