Quote:
Originally Posted by Geralt
Murakami works with magic realism, which is so far away from high fantasy as possible, and it belongs barely to fantasy genre.
I don't even consider him as fantasy writer.
He's as contemporary as they come with elements of magic realism.
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Now it is semantics again. What is the definition of "fantasy"?. First sentence from
Wikipedia: "Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other
supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting". Does Murakami qualify?
I'm a fan of SF (first) and fantasy (second). Emphatically Murakami (whom I like very much) lays in my drawer labeled FANTASY, beside Tolkien (whose "The Lord of the Rings" I like very much,was my teenage book). Yes, Murakami is quite different and contemporary - but if you don't define fantasy as "Tolkien-like", it is fantasy.
What I find so fantastic about Murakami: that he is just an hair width beside reality - which Tolkien, of course, was not.