I enjoyed a portion of this week’s readings, but found some to be either too abstract or complex for me to fully engage with. For the most part, I think I enjoyed stories that took on ordinary events and applied fantastical elements.
The Flying Tobita Sisters: I enjoyed this story very much and how the world Erika Kobayashi constructed where people have wings is based on our own world and history. The ways in which her protagonists describe the past and bipedal life defamiliarizes what readers are accustomed to and turns the ordinary into a spectacle. It was refreshing to experience everyday occurrences, like school or listening to music, from an alternative and magical perspective.
First Rate Material: I also enjoyed Sayaka Murata’s story and her uncanny ability to portray the relationship between humans and their own bodies. Reading this was both intriguing and unsettling as it made me consider how human bodies differ from other animals in regards to their materiality. We as humans seem to hold an air of superiority over other beings, perhaps since we are the apex predator on Earth, and so we’ve collectively constructed social norms in how we “humanely” deal with death and the bodies of the deceased. While I don’t know if I personally would want my fingernails made into a chandelier, her writing made me reconsider how the life of a being can be remembered, celebrated, and also displaced from its human tier of authority.
I Chase the Monkey: This story was extremely difficult for me to follow along, so I’m looking forward to our discussion! It was pretty unsettling to read as I began to associate the monkey and the narrator with pregnancy and/or sexual assault. There is an apparent theme of bodily autonomy and also an interdependency between the body and mind (?) that will be interesting to analyze further.
Mogera Wogura: This was a pretty interesting read, and the protagonist reminded me a bit of the “Ice Man” and “Straw Husband” stories in how the figures surrounding them were ordinary humans. I think the story offers an interesting perspective on work culture and monotony, using the mole as a metaphor for not seeing the sunlight of the world. It was a little depressing to read, however, since the mole collects people who have lost their spirit to live, trying but not always successful in its attempts to recuperate their livelihoods.
Goodbye, Christopher Robin: This story was also difficult for me to understand and follow, but I was able to read the overall theme of existentialism through each “micro-story”. There were so many different narratives being stitched together that I found it hard to follow the overarching narrative of storytelling and existence.
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