<論文>不在の父 --村上春樹「神の子どもたちはみな踊る」論--

Abstract

Haruki Murakami attempts to capture the essence of the earthquake and the terrorist attacks that struck Japan at the end of the 20th century by depicting the common “underground nature” of these events in symbolic form. In All God's Children Can Dance (Shincho, October 1999), the “Father” is portrayed as a “god” called “Our Lord, ” which is common to these two major incidents. Yoshiya, the protagonist's memory of his father exists only in his awareness of the “Father” as described by his mother. After the quake, he thinks about “what exists at the bottom of the earth.” He thinks of his mother when he was young, before he was born, and discovers the original aspect of his mother-father in “That which Exists at the Bottom of the Earth.”