Author: Da Li
"The reason why I want to write about teenagers is because they are still 'mutable' beings, their souls are still in a soft state and not fixed in one direction, and factors like values and lifestyles in them have not yet been firmly established. However, their bodies are maturing at a rapid pace, and their bodies are groping for freedom, confusion, and hesitation in the boundless wilderness. I want to depict in detail the container of such a wobbly and transformed soul in the context of the novel, so as to show what kind of storytelling a person's spirit will gather and form, and what kind of waves will rush it to what place. "
This is what Haruki Murakami, author of Kafka by the Sea, says in the preface to the Chinese edition of this book.
In fact, this passage also shows the reader that this is a coming-of-age novel about a fifteen-year-old teenager.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" >01 Kafka's story prototype</h1>
When we think of the word "growth," we can't help but think of another word, which is "redemption."
And the book itself shows the reader the path of self-redemption of a fifteen-year-old.
The protagonist, Kafka-jun Tamura (hereinafter referred to as Kafka), was cursed by his father from an extremely vicious age:
"Sooner or later you will have to kill your father with those hands, and sooner or later you will have to have sex with your mother."
This prophetic curse made the young Kafka miserable.
And this curse is actually an obstacle set by the author on the protagonist.
So, in order to get rid of this curse, he chose to run away from home on his fifteenth birthday and enter the world of adult life ahead of time.
Before that, I have to mention a few other stories related to this curse.
The young Kafka bears the basis of the story of "killing his father and mother", which comes from another Greek tragedy, "King Oedipus".
Oedipus was the son of Thebes king and queen. Before he was born, the king learned from the god Apollo that he would "kill his father and marry his mother" in the future, so the king discarded the newly born Oedipus in the canyon and left it to himself.
Unexpectedly, Oedipus was rescued by an old man passing by and raised by King Anderson and Queen Correntos as his adopted son.
Oedipus grew up to learn of the prophecy about him, and in order to prevent tragedy, he left his adoptive parents, who thought they were his own parents.
On his way to the kingdom of Thebes, he killed an old man for a fight with someone. This old man was his biological father.
After arriving in Thebes, he was enthroned to the throne by killing the sphinx-faced demon Sphinx for the people, and then unknowingly married the former queen, her biological mother.
At this point, the prophecies of "killing the father and marrying the mother" have been fulfilled one by one.
When the truth came out, his mother committed suicide in shame, and he chose to blind himself and exile himself.
But with regard to Kafka and Oedipus, although they both have similar curses and are fulfilled one by one, they are fundamentally different in their senses.
The difference is that Oedipus ultimately loses to fate, and the theme of the story is also expressing the power and irreversibility of fate: the great hero is destroyed in the struggle against fate.
Kafka, on the other hand, ended up redeemed and returned to the real world.
This is also the fundamental difference between the two.
< h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" >02 kills the father</h1>
From the fact that Kafka ran away from home because he was cursed by his biological father, we can guess that Kafka was not an ordinary teenager with physical and mental health.
And the novel is full of hints at this.
For example, why did Kafka bring a folding knife when he ran away from home?
"When I left home, I took more than cash from my father's study, but also a small metal lighter and a sharp-tipped folding knife."
This is the first sentence of the first chapter at the beginning of the novel.
That is to say, the novel begins with a foreshadowing the realization of Kafka's final curse of "killing the father".
Moreover, his departure from home was not a whim, but a deliberate and long-term plan.
For example, he began exercising very early in preparation for the exodus:
"For this day, I have been working hard for two years since I started junior high school." So much so that he had long taken it as a habit.
Therefore, during his stay at the Komura Library, he was often mentioned to be exercising and sweating profusely, as if he was preparing for an escape at any time.
Because as a fifteen-year-old away teenager, he was found by the police and sent home.
And that's the last thing he wants to accept.
This shows his dislike of home, and it can also be said that he is disgusted with the existence of his father in the family.
Yes, he and his father were the only ones in the family.
When he was four years old, his mother left the house with her sister. This incident caused irreparable damage to him and became a trauma to his heart from childhood to adulthood.
But I think Kafka attributed most of the roots of this hurt to his father.
The reason for this is not only the curse that his father has inflicted on him, but also that his father himself is an evil person at heart.
Kafka said: "Father defiled and destroyed everyone around him. "That's why my mother left with my sister, and I think that makes sense."
After his father's death, he added: "In terms of real feelings, it is a pity that he did not die earlier." "
But even such a teenager who hated his father so deeply did not want to kill his father with his own hands.
I think that's one of the reasons he ran away from home.
However, as with Oedipus, the prophecy would have happened even if he ran away from home.
About ten days after he ran away from home, his father, Koichi Tamura, was killed in his study. Later, when the police investigated, they found that there was no trace left by the murderer.
There are no fingerprints, footprints, or murder weapons.
Strangely enough, however, he woke up that night to find that his clothes were stained with blood from nowhere.
"It is possible that I killed my father through a dream, and I went to kill my father through something like a special dream line."
The claim that he killed his father in a dream, while bizarre, is a real phenomenon in the novel.
In this form, he fulfilled the prophecy of "killing the Father."
We can owe this to the author's imagination.
Haruki Murakami said in an interview:
"In the 'context' I envisioned, everything can happen naturally. In the world I envisioned, things like killing my father at a distance were, as if they were naturalistic realism. "
That is to say, in the "context" of Haruki Murakami, this is just an ordinary thing. It would be nice if the reader understood it that way.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" >03 adulterous mother</h1>
The killing of the father has been achieved, but what about the adulterous mother?
This is undoubtedly also fulfilled by the unique "context" of the novel.
In reality, Zob, who was already fifty years old, interceded with Kafka in the form of a fifteen-year-old girl in a dream.
"Presumably Zober regarded me as her long-dead teenage lover, and she tried to repeat what had happened in this room in the past, very naturally, naturally, in a deep sleep."
And Zoeber was powerless to prevent this from happening.
"I think I must manage to call up Zobel, I must wake her up. She got things wrong and had to tell her there was a huge error there, it wasn't a dream, it was the real world. Yet everything was moving forward in a hurry, and I was powerless to stop the momentum. I was flustered, and myself was swallowed into the torrent of alienated time. "
In this way, Kafka fulfilled the prophecy of the "adulterous mother", in such a passive form.
However, there is one irony in it.
He did not know that Zob was his mother, and after this bizarre event, because of the prophecies and coincidences that had been haunting him, he guessed that Zob was his mother.
And before that, in the words of the novel, he "longed" for Zoe. After that, he also "longed" for Zoe.
Maybe it's just a fifteen-year-old Zob, maybe it's also a fifty-year-old Zob.
Such feelings are inexplicable but inevitably real.
It goes without saying that this also happens in Murakami's unique "context".
It all comes naturally and naturally.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-center-line" >04 As long as you are willing, fate can be overcome, and there will be a turnaround in life! </h1>
The successive fulfillment of the prophecy of "killing the father and adultering the mother" seems to indicate that the teenager's life has fallen to the bottom.
If we compare Oedipus and Kafka, it is not difficult to see.
Oedipus is a kind and great hero figure, while Kafka is a teenager who wears a "sharp folding knife with a sharp tip" when he leaves.
Oedipus fulfilled his prophecy without his knowledge, while Kafka did not necessarily fail to know.
Perhaps in Murakami's metaphor, kafka subconsciously knew that things were going to happen, and he went along with the flow.
As mentioned earlier, Kafka was a mentally handicapped teenager.
But it seems forgivable for a teenager who has grown up in such an environment to become this appearance that is not good or bad.
And his age of only fifteen was destined to give him a chance to be redeemed.
As Murakami said, "Their souls are still in a soft state and not fixed in one direction", so there is still a chance of being pulled back from the abyss to the flat ground.
I think this is also the reason why Murakami chose to make a fifteen-year-old teenager the protagonist of the novel.
And a person who commits the act of "killing the father and the adulterous mother" can still be redeemed, although it takes place in a special "context", does not it also express a point of view that is diametrically opposed to the story of Oedipus?
As long as you are willing, fate can be overcome, and there will be a turning point in life!
If the fulfillment of the prophecy itself is a tragedy, Kafka's final redemption is a comedy within a tragedy.
The "context" is the opportunity given by Murakami to the "Kafkas".
And this represents not only the fifteen-year-olds, but also all the teenagers whose souls have not yet been shaped.
Tell them that there is still a chance in life.
At the end of the novel, there is this dialogue:
"What are you going to do next?" Oshima asked.
"I want to go back to Tokyo." I say.
"What should I do when I go back to Tokyo?"
"Go to the police station first to explain the previous situation, otherwise you will always be hiding from the police everywhere." The next step I think is likely to go back to school. ......"
"Makes sense." Oshima narrowed his eyes at me, "That's really good, maybe." "
"I gradually felt that this was not impossible."
Kafka had been running away from school to escape Tokyo, but eventually volunteered to return to Tokyo and intended to return to school to complete his studies.
This means that he is willing to return to normal life.
For such a young man who is both right and evil, returning to the life of a normal person represents a new life and represents his choice to assume his responsibility and mission.
And when he chooses to carry his mission and responsibility, his soul is also redeemed.
Unlike Oedipus's self-imposed exile, the teenager's soul and consciousness were not yet fully shaped, and until then he had a choice.
At the end of the novel, Kafka's other self, a teenager named The Crow, says, "It's better to sleep first, and when you wake up, you will become part of the new world." "
I think he's ready to be part of a new world.
He said so to himself.
Reference: Another Spiritual Journey of Redemption (Translation) Lin Shaohua
Author: Da Li, the author of today's headlines signed
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