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This story is a story about driving as a spiritual activity, acting as a common activity and differences between men and women. The content is not directly relevant to the Beatles’ song, Drive My Car. But concerning from the lyrics, “She said, ‘baby, can’t you see I want to be famous, a star on the screen. But you can do something in between’.” and “Baby, you can drive my car. Yes I’m gonna be a star.” (A girl said to a boy.), this title is an irony to Kafuku.

This story is a story about car as a machine. But car is not only a machine, one’s driving reflects the human mind, sensibility, characteristics and personality. Driving a car in this novel is a psychological and spiritual activity. It is like playing a musical instrument, communicating to the environment or the world, a reflection of self and a spiritual treatment for one’s mind. And it’s an enjoyable and refreshing act also a life-threatening act that hurts and damages other(s) and self.

Also, this story is a story about actors and acting. Acting is a psychological and spiritual activity too. Kafuku said he can become someone by acting and it’s fun, and people all play roles. And, on Novelist as a Profession Murakami wrote he can become someone by writing a novel. In this novel, I think the profession of actor is a symbol of today’s people. He acts in a role made by other(s). We all act something social roles, but by the roles, anyone lost their true selves. It’s essential problem in the contemporary world.

The notion by Kafuku in the first part, suggests women can’t separate consciousness and action, and mind and body while an activity. So he founded a kind of tension in women's drivings. And women can truly act a role in a drama. So his wife couldn't separate herself and roll, and she slept with actors with which she co-starred.

Watari Misaki, an inelegant and manly woman who smokes her favourite Marlboro cigarettes (a symbol of American masculinity), is a person who can across men and women. Watari in Japanese means “go across” or “cross over”, and Misaki means “cape”. She can go across between capes of men and women, can talk naturally with men as an individual, or can understand the minds of each of men and women. She helped Kafuku to heal his heart by put him in the passenger seat, driving his car and talking about his and her past.

And this novel is Murakami's own thoughts about and reflection on writing and woman. Driving and actings is an activity to enjoy its operation, transition and moving. And I think both of them are partial metaphors of writing a novel. Acting is an activity of interpreting and tracing others’ stories. On Novelist as a Profession Murakami wrote to write a novel is to ride on or to fill a content with a proper vehicle or container. (This long short story is a small-medium size vehicle.) In these two activities are equal to writing a novel, Murakami described the mental differences of men and women. On these activities to commit stories, states of men and women appear differently, men can’t understand the core of the state of mind of women and its reason and mechanism.

Via this short story, Murakami succeeds to express about the mysteriousness of women he thinks, through to describe driving car and acting.

Details of the Book

Men Without Women

Haruki Murakami

Bungeishunju, Tokyo, 7 October 2016

300 pages, JPY 748

ISBN: 978-4167907082

Men Without Women: Stories
Haruki Murakami (Author), Philip Gabriel (Translator), Ted Goossen (Translator)
Vintage, London, 17 May 2018
240 pages, £9.99
ISBN: 9781784705374
Contents: