Why the Ottoman Empire?

   After spending a while in another course writing about Genji's words on fiction from the Hotaru Chapter in The Tale of Genji, wherein regard to fiction and its usefulness Genji says "nothing is empty"(Washburn, 520 modified by Melissa McCormick) it left me wondering. If nothing is truly empty, then why did Murakami choose tax collection in the Ottoman Empire as a book topic of interest in his story The Strange Library. Although I am not convinced that there is any meaning behind it or that there needs to be, and I am fully confident he wouldn't tell us if there was, here is an argument that could be made for why he made such an outlandish decision.

     Although from my understanding, the Ottoman empire had little direct interaction with the Japanese, the vast size of the Empire made it an important link between the east and west of Asia. Through the empire, trade routes allowed many people and goods to travel. Although the empire itself was engaged in much of the trade, in this way it acted almost as a conduit for the far east and far west to trade and connect. In many ways, this is what Murakami does as well. As we have discussed in class many times, Murakami's work often lives in a weird liminal space between Japan and the west. It would not surprise me if Murakami would have some level of a personal fascination with the Ottoman Empire or something like the silk road, that would have allowed goods, services, ideas, and cultures to spread across vast areas of land. Geographically speaking, the Ottoman empire's area of direct control and its accompanying vassal states and allies changed drastically over time. The area of influence is defined by blurry lines, and this malleability and change over time, as well as blurred lines, can be seen in Murakami's work and ideas as well. Murakami blends cultures, often having various influences (such as literary influences, language influences, musical influences, familial influences, etc.) forming his characters and their spaces. None of his main characters seem to be true of one origin and in this way mirror the lack of permanence and the variability of the Ottoman empire. 

     Militaristically, I think Murakami may have drawn some connections between the Ottoman Empire and that of the Japanese around WWII. The Ottoman empire engaged in a lot of rapid expansion movements with their military power. Their Navy in particular played a key role in a lot of their expansion into Europe. This rings true with what the Japanese were doing towards the beginning of the 20th century leading into WWII. Both Empires expanded rapidly, faster than they could manage, and in many ways, this led to their downfall. I think Murakami likely linked these two militaries together by their brutality, with both being known for their mass killings of the people who they would conquer. With Murakami commenting on the Japanese military's actions in many of his works, it would not surprise me if he had linked their actions with those of the Ottoman empire. 

     I think the reasoning behind the focus on tax collection is very important to the entire argument. With the size of the Ottoman empire, a system to tax its citizens would have to be a miraculous work of planning and organization. But beyond that, it would be a way to unify and control the population at the same time. With Murakami's interest in writing about individuality (or lack thereof) in people during and following WWII and the student movements of the 60s in Japan, he is likely somewhat absorbed by how governments go about controlling their people, and how people try to deny this control.

  In The Strange Library particularly, I think that the main character being forced to read the books in the library and memorize them can be viewed as a commentary on the government of Japan following WWII. The information being controlled and censored by the US government in Japan, and not allowing for freedom of speech and thought amongst the people, mimics the main character's desire for knowledge and the control over the accessibility, when and where it can be accessed, what he is allowed to do with it, and the repercussions of wanting to access it. The old man in the library would then represent the US government's cruelty in enforcing these new systems over the people. His slurping the boy's brain in return for him being able to read the book in many ways is similar to the taxation practices of many empires, including that of the Japanese (namely in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, if I remember correctly. Where rice taxation was extremely brutal and left many people with only one option: to desert their homes and land and run from the government. Which of course, the boy has no choice but to run from the old man, leaving his shoes (family) as well as the books (land, offerings from government) behind.....)

 

     Unfortunately, I am no expert on the Ottoman empire. I barely knew anything about it until I decided to write this blog post, and still know practically nothing. I hope that my information and inferences are correct, and if not, please correct me. Either way, I think that there is quite a lot more to be said about why Murakami chose the Ottoman Empire in his story, and I would be interested in hearing any other thoughts on the matter.

Bergen