村上春樹文学における<デーモン>ー『1Q84』を中心にー

Abstract

Murakami Haruki says that the way of moderation is achieved only when the demon Goethe once mentioned remains within. Murakami evaluates the scale and moderation of story in terms of whether the demon exists. When Murakami talks about the evil in Living with Evil, the devil does not mean the deveil in Christian terms, but the demon before Christianity. The devil by means of which Murakami talks about is the same as Goethe. In music, Swing amounts to Groove. The artistry of music is judged in terms of whether there is the demon or not. The story without the demon is nothing but the devil in Christianity. Ohm-Truth Church, Hitler, and Japanese imperialism failed to embrace the demon within. As a result, they were obsessed with the simple story, and killed a huge number of people who were innocent. The pursuit of good should come with that of the demon, which seems contradictory in Christian dichotomy of good and evil. But Humanity cannot stay in dichotomy: good or evil. Thus, modern people are needed to admit that they evaluate themselves with true courage and discipline. The pursuit of humanity is that of holiness. The demon surrounding humans means holiness. Murakami invokes human dignity to modern people by his novels with the demons.