Vital emptiness, metanarrative and fantasy. Murakami’s short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes

Abstract

The book The Elephant Vanishes includes many of the first stories written by Haruki Murakami. As for the common themes found in these seventeen stories, it should be pointed out that they present a gallery of characters who either find themselves in an existential point which determines a turn in their lives, or feel an inner gap, or are marked by a hidden force that afflicts them, or are affected by what might have happened but did not. As discernible elements in the stories, the inclusion of metanarrative elements, the emergence of the fantastic world, the use of humour in certain passages and the appearance of the autobiographical narrator are worthy of mention.