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Work #836 · Late

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Haruki Murakami
1994-95 (Japanese 3 vols.); 1997 (English single volume) · Japanese
Postmodern Japanese novel · Late-twentieth-century Japanese literature

Murakami's 1994-95 postmodern Japanese novel — Toru Okada, the missing cat, and the Manchurian past

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Non-Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Bi-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Non-Theistic
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The contemporary suburban Tokyo and the buried wartime past.

Space

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The Tokyo apartment, the dry well, the Manchurian steppe.

Matter

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The missing cat, the missing wife, the wind-up bird.

Observer

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Toru Okada in his search.

Energy

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Energies of loss, descent, and historical guilt.

Information

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The interleaved present and the recovered wartime record.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: foundational for late-twentieth-century Japanese literature; major statement of global postmodern fiction.