Murakami notes- sheep man?
What are some of the themes that Murakami deals with?
Obvious- isolation, disconnect, etc. one character that seems to be centrally located (the narrator/ thread connector) The sheep man is a good example.
Less obvious?
Protagonists that don’t really fit in?
Sheep man-A sheep-man sits in a hotel room and operates a switchboard connecting the lonely, drifting narrator to a web of unforgettable individuals the slightly dreamy, out-of-place 30ish man trying to reason with a world that seems stranger by the minute. A sense that one cannot trust one’s own senses.
It may be difficult to tell from excerpts but what sorts of questions do you think he is trying to ask about reality, fate, relationships, family, and life, His narrator is a loner, and the world that was built emphasized this.
It is a book that will be best appreciated by people who have been loners, stand removed from the "norms" of society of a wife, a 9 to 5 job in an impersonal office, two kids, a pet, and perhaps even a dedication to any particular religion, and have, as such, cultivated a deep level of observation, a bit of an alienation to and from society, and perhaps a personal subconscious inkling/longing for a supernatural happenstance
What does this illustrate about capitalism in the ‘80s economy?
Daydreams about Egyptians-opulence of bubble economy.
Very specific music references-david bowie, duran duran, etc. all have spatial quality to them, mysteriousness, multiple meanings?
Pay attention to each character’s interaction with their environment (specifically the built environment). Murakami treats this in a distinctive way, evident in many of is novels.
What does each character experience temporally? Spatially?
How does his work seem to have a futuristic quality, even though the time period can be contemporary? It seems to have a sort of magical realism quality to it.
Dancing-movement-free and not rigid. Dance is a different form of movement.
Rooms within rooms, spaces are metaphors for mental state, hotels are transient spaces anyway, always disorienting, you will never experience the same hotel. Travel is displacing.
Syntax of sheepman- break down everyday composure, break down social rules, regulations (also dancing).
Murakami as a Japanese author? Ban Shigeru debate- Japanese or world-class? Dangerous to essentialize, trivialize an author, thereby a culture. Universality of themes? Why is he the face of Japanese literature?
Banana-urban ennui.

Ghost in the shell-
“Overspecialize and you breed weakness.” They are automatons but they are all slightly unique.
What does it mean to have a soul?
Fight scene in old markethall! Noiry/20s style décor crabtank destroys fossil, family tree museum relics tree of life mural on wall