Let's interpret this short story (Link)

[97tbird]

I came across this short story in a collection of short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, titled "Blind willow, Sleeping woman" recently.

IDK why but the story drew me in, but i must admit i can't for the life of me understand it completely. His stories are a bit strange but most of them I could get a sense of the message, so to say, but this one is simply baffling to me...

I made a few friends (all pretty enthusiastic readers) read it and most of the replies/"reviews" were one or two worded and cannot be posted here

as in "What the..." kinda response.

Perhaps I am over-analyzing and missing a simple point...

NOTE: This being a translation from Japanese, some people thought it's "Lost in translation" from the original and therefore hard to grasp - but author's foreword praises his translator and he oversees the translations himself and is fluent in English, having studied literature in the US.

Here's a link - it's a quick read, and let me know what you guys think...

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/11/17/hunting-knife

 

[DeepFriar]

I wonder if its not about a life full of memories or just life itself. You can't escape the past. It's always there, sharp with memories, the bad ones most cutting of all. You lived that past, you remember that past and you can't take that "knife" out. Handling the knife may be an allusion to life. How he handled it frenetically as he used it. Enjoying it but not contemplating it, the joy, the increasing compulsion, was in "living" (using) it and that only made him want to use it more. Maybe the disabled man wanted more of it too, bad memories and all, that's why he ordered the knife if only to watch someone else use it.

Poor guess on my part I'm sure but such vague stories are like much art in that the reader/viewer lets it speak to him each in his own way.

 

[97tbird]

Thanks so much - it gives me something to think, and your "review" is beautifully written.