Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Literature has long been a means by which writers and readers attempt to make sense of the complexities of human life and experience. Fiction affords the reader a vicarious experience, an opportunity to engage deeply but with sufficient distance to be able to titrate whatever discomfort is entailed in delving into difficult territories. Metaphor pulls the reader into the more experiential aspects of knowing, inviting greater contact with primary process and with affect, in particular. Haruki Murakami is one author who explicitly and implicitly explores the subterranean terrain of dreams, desire, and unconscious motivation, using his peculiar brand of imaginary fiction to invite us into experiences that cross borders of space and time. Many of Murakami's novels can be seen as traumatic narratives, in which we are offered fragments that are difficult to put together. In his recent novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Murakami (2014) once again offers a traumatic narrative to directly consider issues regarding history and memory through the characters. In this article, I will consider ways in which he addresses interpersonal trauma, exploring how we can injure one another through lies and deception, and then become lost to ourselves.