Echoes in the Silence: Investigating Trauma and the Fragmentation of Identity through Magical Realism in Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Abstract

This study explores the interplay between trauma and the fragmentation of identity in Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle through the lens of magical realism. The problem statement centers on how trauma disrupts selfhood, leading to fractured identities, and how magical realism serves as a narrative mode to articulate these psychological fissures. The research aims to analyze the protagonist’s disjointed reality and memory using Wendy B. Faris’s theory of magical realism, which highlights the seamless blending of the fantastical with the mundane, and Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, which examines inherited or secondary trauma. Employing a qualitative method with purposive sampling of key textual passages, the study underscores the novel’s significance in revealing how magical realism captures the ineffable nature of trauma and identity dissolution, offering broader insights into the psychological and narrative dimensions of post-traumatic experiences.  

Keywords: Magical Realism, post memory, identity Fragmentation, trauma.