Healing Trauma and Reconstruction of Japanese Identity in the Post-War Period in the Novels by Kazuo Ishiguro and Haruki Murakami

Abstract

Both Kazuo Ishiguro, a British Japanese writer, and Haruki Murakami show their views of Japanese history and try to explore the relationship between individuals and their country in the flow of history in their novels. “A Pale View of Hills” and “An Artist of the Floating World” by Ishiguro and “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” and “Killing Commendatore” by Murakami refer to the Pacific War and use the post-war period when trauma and identity became outstanding issues in Japanese society as the background of the stories. From the perspective of trauma and identity theories, this article clarifies the similarities and differences of Ishiguro and Murakami in the way of representing the trauma caused by identity crises that Japanese generations coped with and the changes of Japanese identity in the post-war period. Through analyses of Japanese citizens’ and immigrants’ trauma of finding and choosing identities in the four novels, this article also indicates Ishiguro and Murakami’s messages of healing trauma and reconstructing Japanese identity.