Sayaka_Murata

Sayaka Murata

Sayaka Murata

Japanese writer

Sayaka Murata (村田沙耶香 Murata Sayaka; born August 14, 1979) is a Japanese writer. She has won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, and the Akutagawa Prize.

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Biography

Murata was born in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, in 1979. As a child, she often read science fiction and mystery novels borrowed from her brother and mother, and her mother bought her a word processor after she attempted to write a novel by hand in the fourth grade of elementary school.[1] After Murata completed middle school in Inzai, her family moved to Tokyo, where she graduated from Kashiwa High School (attached to Nishogakusha University) and attended Tamagawa University.[2]

Kashiwa High School

Her first novel, Jyunyū (Breastfeeding), won the 2003 Gunzo Prize for New Writers.[3] In 2013 she won the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-iro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, Of Body Heat, Of Whitening City), and in 2014 the Special Prize of the Sense of Gender Award.[4][5] In 2016 her 10th novel, Konbini ningen (Convenience Store Person), won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize,[6] and she was named one of Vogue Japan's Women of the Year.[7] Konbini ningen has sold over 1.5 million copies in Japan[8] and in 2018 it became her first book to be translated into English, under the title Convenience Store Woman.[9] It has been translated into more than 30 languages.[8]

Murata worked part-time as a convenience store clerk in Tokyo for eighteen years until 2017.[10]

Writing style

Murata's writing explores the different consequences of nonconformity in society for men and women, particularly with regard to gender roles, parenthood, and sex.[11] Many of the themes and character backstories in her writing come from her daily observations as a part-time convenience store worker.[10] Societal acceptance of sexlessness in various forms, including asexuality, voluntary and involuntary celibacy, especially within marriage, recurs as a theme in several of her works, such as the novels Shōmetsu sekai (Dwindling World) and Konbini ningen (Convenience Store Person), and the short story "A Clean Marriage."[12][13] Murata is also known for her frank depictions of adolescent sexuality in work such as Gin iro no uta (Silver Song)[14] and Shiro-iro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City).[15] In Satsujin shussan she depicts a future society which may be seen as dystopic for the use of Reproduction Technologies and the strange system called Birth-Murder System.[4]

Themes

Challenging taboos

Murata often places challenging taboos at the forefront of her most popular works.[16] The title Earthlings focuses on an 11-year-old girl named Natsuki, with her boyfriend and cousin, Yuu, who believes themselves to be aliens due to their tumultuous relationship with their family. The story quickly develops into a harsh tale containing themes of "sexual abuse, murder, and cannibalism."[16] Murata states on challenging taboos: "For example, murder is said to be taboo, but then why is it considered acceptable if it’s legitimate self-defense or capital punishment? I sensed the ambiguity in my childish mind. And I felt a physical repulsion and fear inside me toward incest and cannibalism, although I didn’t know why they were forbidden. I wondered where those emotions came from.”[16] Murata believes that the more she writes about the questioning of these taboos, the closer she will come to the "real truth of things."[16]

Conformity

The topic of conformity is common in Japanese literature and culture, and Murata frequently questions its validity, especially in Convenience Store Woman.[17] Conformity is often placed at the heart of Japanese culture, a notion that Murata frequently explores within her works.[17] In this work, Keiko, the main heroine, finds herself trying to escape from reality's expectations of marrying and choosing a traditional career.[18] Keiko eventually finds that her convenience store job is her only way to feel in touch with society, a "normal cog in society."[17]

Asexuality

Many of Murata's main heroines find themselves in asexual relationships, such as Natsuki in Earthling and Keiko in Convenience Store Woman.[19][20] Asexuality is a theme that coincides with questioning the standards society typically expects from citizens, a notion that Murata explores frequently.[16]

Global warming and climate change

Murata published a short story within the anthology titled Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change detailing a dystopian Japanese society built upon ranks given to humans based upon the likelihood that they survive until they're 65 with anyone falling below a specific rank becoming "feral."[21] The short story titled Survival detailed the accounts of the world if global warming was left unattended, with torrential rain showers becoming commonplace and the remaining animals of the world only including humans, cockroaches, and cats. The increased likelihood of precipitation is supported heavily as well as the likelihood of cockroaches remaining as the Earth's only surviving species if climate change was left unaddressed.[22][23]

Recognition

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Bibliography

Short story collections

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Novels

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Other works

  • "Chameleon" (photoessay with Tomoko Sawada), English translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori, Granta 144: Art & Photography, 2018.[35]
  • "The Future of Sex Lives in All of Us" (article), English translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori, The New York Times, 2019.[36]

Notes

  1. The name of the first pentad in the usui solar term, corresponding to February 19–23

References

  1. [1]
    "村田沙耶香インタビュー「バイトは週3日、週末はダメ人間です」". Bungeishunjū (in Japanese). August 20, 2017. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  2. [2]
    "印西出身の村田沙耶香さん 入学時文集「いつか理想の自分に」 二松学舎大学付属柏高、母校も喜びに沸く ／千葉". Mainichi (in Japanese). July 21, 2016. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  3. [3]
    "Gunzo Awards". Gunzo (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  4. [4]
    Specchio, Anna (July 5, 2018). "Eutopizing the Dystopia. Gender Roles, Motherhood and Reproduction in Murata Sayaka's "Satsujin Shussan"". Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory. 4 (1): 94–108. doi:10.24193/mjcst.2018.5.06. ISSN 2457-8827.
  5. [5]
    "| 新潮社". 新潮社コーポレートサイト. Archived from the original on 2022-10-23. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
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    Kikuchi, Daisuke (July 20, 2016). "Convenience store worker who moonlights as an author wins prestigious Akutagawa Prize". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  7. [7]
    "高畑充希、飛躍の一年を回顧「台風の目にいるような感じ」". Oricon News. Nov 24, 2016. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  8. [8]
    Tagholm, Roger (January 31, 2019). "Granta buys new Sayaka Murata novel". thebookseller.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  9. [9]
    Freeman, John (November 16, 2017). "In Praise of Sayaka Murata". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  10. [10]
    Rich, Motoko (June 11, 2018). "For Japanese Novelist Sayaka Murata, Odd Is the New Normal". New York Times (subscription required). Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  11. [11]
    Rich, Motoko (June 11, 2018). "For Japanese Novelist Sayaka Murata, Odd Is the New Normal". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  12. [12]
    Fallon, Claire (June 12, 2018). "Amid All The Talk Of Incels, A Solitary Woman's Story". HuffPost. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  13. [13]
    Tapley Takamori, Ginny (April 24, 2014). "Translator's Note: A Clean Marriage". Granta. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  14. [14]
    "Silver Song". Books from Japan. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  15. [15]
    "Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City". Books from Japan. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  16. [16]
    "Aliens and Alienation: The Taboo-Challenging Worlds of "Earthlings" Author Murata Sayaka". nippon.com. 2020-11-04. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  17. [17]
    ""Convenience Store Woman": Life by the Book". nippon.com. 2018-06-11. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  18. [18]
    "Sayaka Murata's Eerie "Convenience Store Woman" Is a Love Story Between a Misfit and a Store". The New Yorker. 2018-06-21. Archived from the original on 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  19. [19]
    Hayes, Stephanie (2020-11-09). "A Dystopian Novel That Challenges Taboos and Refuses Judgment". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  20. [20]
    Garner, Dwight (2018-07-23). "'Convenience Store Woman' Casts a Fluorescent Spell". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  21. [21]
    "A Trip Through a Wounded Landscape: On John Freeman's "Tales of Two Planets"". Cleveland Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  22. [22]
    Witze, Alexandra (2018-11-20). "Why extreme rains are gaining strength as the climate warms". Nature. 563 (7732): 458–460. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..458W. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07447-1. PMID 30459384. S2CID 53722768. Archived from the original on 2023-08-27. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  23. [23]
    Ro, Christine. "The animals that will survive climate change". www.bbc.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
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    "過去の受賞作品". Kodansha (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  25. [25]
    "2014年度 第14回Sense of Gender賞". The Japanese Association for Gender Fantasy and Science Fiction (in Japanese). August 29, 2015. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  26. [26]
    Murata, Sayaka (April 24, 2014). "A Clean Marriage". Granta. Archived from the original on January 29, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  27. [27]
    Freeman's: Change. October 12, 2021. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  28. [28]
    Life Ceremony. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  29. [29]
    "Freeman's: The Future of New Writing". Freeman's. October 10, 2017. Archived from the original on January 29, 2024. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  30. [30]
    Murata, Sayaka (April 12, 2022). A Summer Night's Kiss (Literary magazine). Astra House. ISBN 9781662619007. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  31. [31]
    Murata, Sayaka (November 18, 2020). "Faith". Granta. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  32. [32]
    "Tales of Two Planets: 9780143133926". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  33. [33]
    Convenience Store Woman. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2018. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  34. [34]
    Earthlings. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  35. [35]
    "Chameleon". Granta. 2018-08-09. Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  36. [36]
    Murata, Sayaka (December 2, 2019). "The Future of Sex Lives in All of Us". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
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