Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Product Information

The first story, Hard Boiled Wonderland, is a sort of detective story set in a technomagically realistic Tokyo somewhere in the vicinity of the present. This story follows a man working for The System: a pseudogovernmental organization dedicated to the keeping of certain information secret. This man is, essentially, a human encryption device. Simply put, he encodes data using the structure of his brain as a sortof encoding key. This character gets assigned to a particularly interesting encryption job where he must use special advanced (and prohibited) techniques which make use of his subconscious mind. This job, however, embroils him in a strange world of intrigue on levels he never imagined both figuratively and literally.

Wray, Interviewed by John (2004). "The Art of Fiction No. 182". Vol.Summer 2004, no.170. {{ cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= ( help) Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World ( 世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド, Sekai no Owari to Hādo-Boirudo Wandārando) is a 1985 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It was awarded the Tanizaki Prize in 1985. The English translation by Alfred Birnbaum was released in 1991. A strange and dreamlike novel, its chapters alternate between two narratives—"Hard-Boiled Wonderland" (the cyberpunk, science fiction part) and "The End of the World" (the surreal, virtual fantasy part).

This Review

Sorry; I digress. The title describes the story perfectly because one of the linked narratives concerns The End Of The World (and I guarantee that phrase does not mean, here, what you think it means) and the other takes place in a sparse, monochromatic and sharp-edged subset of modern Japan. This latter, by following many of the 'rules' of the Hard-Boiled genre, manages to invoke its inspirations, references and homages almost by what it leaves out rather than what it puts in. The protagonist, whose name we never learn, in this tale inhabits a modern profession, one involving data, espionage, conflict, organizations bent on domination, greed, destructive curiosity, whisky, cigarettes, semi-automatic pistols, codes, codebreaking, surveillance, apartment-trashing toughs, switchblades, credit cards, mysterious superiors, The Professor, The Girl, the Macguffin and the Enemy. Hence, with all these stereotypes out to play, the Wonderland - a Hard-Boiled one, at that. The two storylines converge, exploring concepts of consciousness, the subconscious or unconscious mind, and identity. Badass Bookworm: The Professor is an old man and a brilliant scientist. Despite his age, he still manages to climb an underground mountain with a sprained ankle while fending off horrible underground creatures. His granddaughter also qualifies - she's learned huge amounts from her grandfather and has no trouble dealing with a pair of Semiotec goons.

And I Must Scream: What the protagonist and the Professor think living inside one's own mind would be like. Bittersweet Ending: The End of the World plot, leading to a Downer Ending for the Hard-Boiled Wonderland plot. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World is one of Murakami’s most surrealistic and experimental novels. It’s perhaps the only one that could be categorized as true ‘science fiction.’ Only half of the book takes place in the ‘real’ world, with each alternating chapter taking us to the walled town located deep within the protagonist’s subconscious. Menslow, Scott (August 7, 2015). "Your Literary Playlist: A Guide to the Music of Haruki Murakami". The Week . Retrieved July 13, 2022. Murakami's books are often categorized in "Sci-Fi/Fantasy", but I believe that is mis-labeling. I have read (well, listened to) "Kafka on the shore", "1Q84", "Wind-up bird chronicle", and "Dance, Dance, Dance", and they are not SF, in my opinion - they have core elements other than SF.

The novel contains examples of:

Empty Shell: The citizens of the town at the End of the World are basically this, and it is implied that the narrator will become like this once his shadow dies and he is fully assimilated into the town. Living Shadow: The narrator of The End of the World has been separated from his shadow, which seems to have a mind of its own and which desires to get inside the town so that it can reunite with him. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is really two separate narratives: Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World are two seperate stories, told in alternate chapters of this delightful novel. readers might expect his new novel to be as slangy and vivacious as "A Wild Sheep Chase," the 1989 novel that was the first of his many books to appear in English. But they will be disappointed.