An Intertextual Study of Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore

Abstract

Haruki Murakami’s postmodern novel Kafka on the Shore contains a dazzling array of obligatory, optional and accidental intertextualities in the form of quotations, direct references, allusions and adaptations. The amalgamation of influences from classical and contemporary literary works, ancient Greek and modern European philosophy, jazz, popular music, films and images from pop culture in the novel constitute a pastiche that pays homage to the originals even as the author freely copies, quotes, borrows to create a uniquely postmodern world. The novel’s theme and subthemes, plots and subplots, characters, and settings reveal thematic, psychological and structural similarities with well-known literary works and resonate with undertones of contemporary theoretical concepts such as existentialism, psychoanalytic criticism, feminism, and gender theory.  In the process of re-inscribing Western texts, the novel provides an alternate perspective on issues that confront Japanese society and by extension other Asian cultures as well.