My Take | Murakami will be laughing all the way to the bank
Japanese author’s latest novel has been branded as ‘indecent’ by Hong Kong’s Obscene Articles Tribunal, but this will just help ensure he sells more copies
Nothing promotes a literary work like censorship. That’s why any self-respecting writer should consider such prohibition a badge of honour. At least that’s the case in a free society like Hong Kong. And we can all have a good laugh during dinner parties.
But, what of the outrage? Well, it’s mostly overly sensitive souls who take their cultural superiority too seriously.
Having avoided controversies for quite a while, the Obscene Articles Tribunal decided to make news again by classifying a new novel, Killing Commendatore, by famous Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, as “indecent”. That meant its removal from the annual Hong Kong Book Fair and an order to all public libraries to keep it away from people younger than 18.
Apparently there are some steamy sex scenes in the novel, which makes me want to read it. I assume that’s the reaction of a few other people. An “indecent” classification is free advertising; Murakami must be pleased.
I have not read his novels, though I did admire Underground. The book is a series of interviews with perpetrators and victims of the 1996 Tokyo subway sarin attack by Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult. Its leader, Shoko Asahara, was executed this month. The book is a consummate work of journalism. Murakami let his interviewees edit their transcripts before publication as an ethical stance against media sensationalism. Hacks would never do that, otherwise, how could we misquote people for stories?