by David Wallace
Inadvertently, I had a moment of enlightenment, or more accurately, terror. Every person of a certain age probably has these moments when you are telling a friend of some incident or experience, only to realize that it took place before they were born. But that is not really the point. My friend was not so young, not yet middle aged, but getting there. Where am I in the universe? The following book is set in a time which no longer exists, in fact, as it is presented in the book, the time never did exist.
George Orwell wrote the futuristic, for the time, novel 1984. Haruki Murakami has written the fantastical novel, 1Q84, a clear reference to Orwell’s book. 1984 was a pivotal year. In retrospect, it was the end of an era, and the beginning of or another. 1Q84, (the Q stands for ? mark), is also a snapshot in time, although the story can be read on several levels.
It is a story, both simple and complex. Boy and girl meet at 10 years old, remember each other but don’t meet. They finally get together at the end of the story. He becomes a cram (Juku) school instructor and she becomes a fitness trainer. Pretty ordinary stuff, except he is an aspiring writer and she is a serial killer. It gets weirder. The world of 1Q84 changes in subtle ways. There are little people, two moons in the night sky and two fanatical religious groups, both based on existing groups. One group seems to have been formed by former rioters at Tokyo University. If you had lived in Tokyo during the late sixties you would remember the Tokyo University Yasuda Kodo Jiken, in 1969. It was only one of many riots at the time.
1Q84 is a snapshot in time. Anyone who has lived in Tokyo during the 1970s, and then later in the 1980s will recognize the setting in the novel right away. People phone each other from small red telephones which take 10 yen coins. When was the last time you saw a red telephone in Tokyo (or anywhere else in Japan)? There was no email. The characters use the regular mail. The web does not exist. People do research in libraries. Cell phones are yet to be seen.
I used my first cell phone (big and clunky) in Canada during Expo 86 in Vancouver. The previous year at Expo 85 in Tsukuba, the Canadian Pavilion could not get a telex line into the Expo site. So we got a new and mysterious machine which used regular telephone lines. It was called a FAX. I had seen a large precursor to the fax during the early 70s. It was used to transmit newspaper pages over wires. Desktop computers were available in Japan and Canada in 1984 – we had them in 1985 at Tsukuba. But the characters in 1Q84 don’t use computers. The main character buys a word processor, although he still likes to write by hand. The other characters occasionally mention large computers, which must have been main frames. One anomaly is that no one ever seems to send domestic telegrams. I remember the putt-putt of the motorcycle delivering a telegram to the door.
The novel is also a quick survey of European literature. Japanese classics also play a role. One other central character, without whom there would be no story, is a, possibly dyslectic, seventeen year old girl, who has a fantastical story (you will have to read the book). At one point during questions at a press conference, she is asked about a favourite piece of literature, and she recites from memory a passage from the Heike Monogatari, the Battle of Dan no Ura. It helps to have a bit of background in classical Japanese literature. I reached for my English Translation copy of the Heike Monogatari, actually two volumes, and found the passage. (I still use books rather than the internet). I am not sure which English translation the translator used, but it was different from the one in my book, although the story was the same.
1Q84 is a good read. There are a few loose ends. Some people disappear and we don’t really know why. The main character never does resolve his quest to know who his biological father really is, even though it is hinted both ways. His father isn’t his father and perhaps he really is.
Tokyo is still the same, Tokyo is fundamentally different. Read the book, find out for yourself and imagine a world where there are two moons and occasional little people.
