CHAPTER ONE

Theoretical review: Magical Realism, Trauma, and The Postmodern City

Introduction

This chapter will be dedicated to the theoretical frameworks that conceptualize magical
realism as a narrative mode. Specifically Magical Realism Theory, with particular emphasis on
Wendy B. Faris’s critical approach, in order to establish the genre’s significance to contemporary
narratives of subjectivity. This will be followed by an examination of Trauma Theory to
showcase the novel’s portrayal of suspended consciousness, silence, and disembodiment. Finally,
this chapter will utilize Postmodern Urban and Media Theory to situate After Dark within a late
capitalist city scape, highlighting how Tokyo’s nocturnal environment and technological
mediation contribute to the critical aspect of the novel.

[Link] Realism

The study of magical realism has developed making it a widely diverse tool, where many
scholars argue that its not a strictly defined genre but rather a flexible narrative mode, who’s
meaning and characteristics change depending on cultural, historical, and literary contexts.
Consequently, critics often disagree about its boundaries and its defining techniques.

Debates of magical realism often begin with what critics describe as the “problem of
definition,” as the concept has proven resistant to a definitive and universally endorsed
interpretation. Although magical realism is often recognizable to readers even without domain-
specific terminology, scholars continue to disagree on how it should be precisely defined and
how its narrative techniques should be categorized. Simplistic descriptions that characterize
magical realism as merely a combination of the “magical” and the “real” are insufficient, given
that comparable combinations of elements can also be found in related genres like fantasy and
science fiction, which similarly blends imaginative and innovative components with multiple
narrative techniques. What distinguishes magical realism is, thereupon, not simply the
coexistence of these elements but the particular way they are represented within the narrative. In
magical realist texts, supernatural or inexplicable events are presented as part of everyday reality
and are accepted without question, creating an effortless interaction between the ordinary and the
extraordinary. Despite this general point of agreement, critics continue to debate the boundaries
between what constitutes the “real” and the “magical,” as well as the relationship of magical
realism to other literary movements such as postmodernism.

Among the major contributions to the understanding of magical realism is Wendy B.

Faris’s theoretical paradigm. Faris conceptualizes magical realism as a narrative mode in which
realist representation coexists with events, presences, or forces that extend beyond measurable
and logical understanding, yet both dimensions are treated as equally accurate and legitimate
within the fictional world. Rather than positioning realism and fantasy in opposition, magical
realism changes normal storytelling methods such that magical or unusual events are told just
like everyday ones, without making them seem strange or unbelievable. Central to Faris’s
framework is the idea of “defocalized narration,” in which the narrative perspective remains
unstable or ambiguous, and events are presented without clear proof that they were experienced
through the senses. This narrative strategy produces a sense of uncertainty regarding who
observes, knows, or speaks, hence allowing the text to explore methods of seeing and feeling that
surpass the limits of the tangible world. Through this defocalization, magical realism achieves
what Faris terms a “remystification” of realism, highlighting the versatility of literary forms to
transforming historical and cultural settings while pushing against the boundaries of western
realist fiction.

Faris’s framework provides significant insight into Haruki Murakami’s After Dark, which
eembodies several of the narrative strategies she identifies as central to magical realism. The
novel frequently presents events through a detached, observational voice, demonstrating how
defocalized narration works. Simultaneously, uncanny and strange phenomena such as
disembodied observation, suspended consciousness, and liminal urban spaces are effortlessly
incorporated into the otherwise realistic depiction of contemporary Tokyo without logical
explanation. By situating these narrative techniques within Faris’s global conception of magical
realism, After Dark emphasizes how realist forms can be reshaped to reflect modern conditions
of urban life, surveillance, and media saturation to produce a unique effects that captures
attention and encourages reflection on cultural and historical realities, making the narrative both
emotionally and intellectually intriguing.
 [Link] Theory and Dissociation
When we examine how trauma is represented as a psychological fracture and a narrative
disruption, we prioritize its core idea as explained and conceptualized by present day theorists,
where it’s characterized by absence. A traumatic event occurs when a powerful external force
disrupts the psyche's balance, disabling the patterns of perception and knowledge upon which an
individual typically relies to understand experiences. Because the intensity of the experience
exceeds the mind's capacity to comprehend it at the moment it occurs, it is not fully processed or
understood. Consequently, the mind fails to transform the event into a coherent and organized
memory. This failure leads to an internal psychological conflict, creating a kind of disconnect
between the traumatic experience and the cognitive abilities that usually organize human
understanding. Instead of being integrated into the chronology of the past, the event remains
suspended within the psyche, struggling to find its proper place in memory. This leaves the
individual trapped in a state of re-enactment of the traumatic experience, where fragments of the
event reappear as if they were still happening in the present. In this sense, trauma disrupts the
temporal order through which memory and identity are formed. Because the event was not fully
experienced or understood at the moment it occurred, it becomes difficult to transform it into a
coherent narrative or an organized account of the past.

This psychological fracture has profound indications for narrative representation. It relies
fundamentally on continuity, memory, and the ability to arrange experiences into a logical and
coherent sequence of events. However, psychological trauma deteriorates these very foundations.
considering the mind is unable to process the traumatic event naturally, it resists accumulation
into a stable structure. Instead of appearing as a clear and organized memory, the trauma often
returns as fragmented images, intrusive memories, and involuntary repetitions that break the
linear narrative. Cathy Carruth insinuates to this problematic nature of trauma when she
describes it as a "lost encounter," emphasizing that the traumatic event is not fully experienced at
the moment of its occurrence but returns later through indirect and periodic manifestations. Thus,
the individual finds themselves confronted with an experience that remains powerfully present
but coincidentally resistant to complete understanding or comprehension, leading to a breakdown
in meaning and an inability to fully express what happened. Consequently, the psychological
fracture caused by trauma directly leads to a disruption. The mind's inability to comprehend a
traumatic event is reflected in the difficulty of narrating or representing it, leading to fragmented,
or incomplete forms of expression. In this way, trauma reveals a close relationship between
psychological fragmentation and narrative disturbance, since the disruption of the mind's
cognitive structures is paralleled by a disruption in the narrative frameworks through which the
experience can be organized and expressed.
Freud discussed the term trauma from a psychological perspective in “Beyond the Pleasure
Principle” (1920) and “Moses and Monotheism” (1939). In these two studies, he studied trauma
from a mental point of view, he used stories from Greek mythology and the Bible to discuss the
core characteristics of trauma. In the light of that , the correlation existing between trauma theory
and literature began to draw scholarly attention in the 1990s. Cathy Caruth who is seen as a
pioneering trauma theorist with a psychoanalytic approach, according to her, trauma is“ an
overwhelming experience of sudden, or catastrophic events, in which the response to the event
occurs in the often delayed, and uncontrolled repetitive occurrence of hallucinations and other
intrusive phenomena”. She presumed Freud’s works on trauma and derived several features of
trauma, which includes that the traumatic experience is a belated experience until it reoccurs and
is impulsively repeated in the unconscious. Meaning that trauma, due to its surprising and
shocking nature, it may not be fully remembered and recognized in the first instance, therefore it
opposes simple clarification or forgetting. the range of trauma involves both personal and
collective trauma, and with its continuous repetition, these traumas have a long-lasting and a
shocking impact on an individual’s life. Now Caruth went way beyond Freud’s concepts through
highlighting the connection between trauma and literary language. She argued that trauma is an
image of the unfamiliar as it does not happen at the exact moment of the traumatic incident, but
has a delay. Thus, trauma resists consciousness, refuses to adapt and adjust into memory, leading
to difficulty in verbal representation of it. According to Caruth, “the complex relation between
knowing and not knowing” is the resemblance between trauma and literary language, therefore,
literature is a suitable instrument to describe traumatic experiences. Making current trauma
theory widely broad, focusing on psychological, sociological, and narrative frameworks.
In Addition, according to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, by the American Psychiatric Association which defines trauma as an event or
experience that is immense and stressing, it typically involves a major risk to the physical,
emotional, or psychological well-being of the individual to the point of becoming chronic. The
definition of trauma has been a topic of debate and has undergone multiple changes due to the
weightiness, sophistication, duration, and intensity of potential challenges. For example, Roger
Lukhurst in The Trauma Question (2008), defines trauma as "a complex knot that binds together
multiple strands of knowledge" (214). This could be considered suitable as trauma studies has
been profoundly influenced and involved itself in a variety of fields including social sciences,
historiography, legal studies, literature. This interdisciplinary nature of trauma studies is seen
from the way it fields questions from subjects like philosophy, psychology, literature, and
history, with an emphasis on fundamental questions relating to memory, narrative, and
forgetting. Additionally, Susannah Radstone in Trauma Theory: Contexts, Politics, and Ethics
(2007), claims that the first emergence of the term “Trauma Theory” was in Caruth’s Unclaimed
Experience (1996). She implies that the work of theorists Caruth, Felman, and Laub as opening
“the Humanities to trauma” (9-10), began different innovative techniques and strategies to
investigate the literary portrayal of trauma, until they concluded that Literature can be considered
vital and essential to the study of trauma as it stands vital in its quality and grounded on being
both coherent along with ambiguous. Literature utilizes language as a tool to express and deliver
traumatic experiences through literary works, making trauma theorists namely Lukhurst, Felman,
LaCapra, Caruth, position their concepts and perceptions on a concrete solid foundation.
Since traumatic experiences often puts the individual’s state in distress and a feeling of
being overwhelmed emotionally and psychologically, they may result in a breakdown in memory
and identity, creating a psychological rupture that makes the mind develop distance between the
human and his/her traumatic experiences, thereby cause a state of dissociation as a coping
mechanism.
According to Bernstein and Putnam, “dissociation is the lack of normal integration of
thoughts, feelings, and experiences into the stream of consciousness and memory” (1986, p.
727). Another resembling definition of dissociation can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, where it describes patterns such as detachment, distortion, and
psychogenic amnesia as examples of dissociation. A frequently used method to evaluate these
symptoms is the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Bernstein & Putnam, 1986), a self-
administered measure that asks participants the level which they experience dissociative patterns.
Few examples of DES elements where participants read statements presenting dissociative
experiences and mark on a 0 to 100% line how commonly these experiences occur to them. The
results from all the items are combined and calculated to a final Dissociative Experiences Scale
(DES) score.
In clinical literature, there can be found a frequent focus where traumatic experiences can
result in dissociative symptomatic features. For example, Putnam, Carlson, Ross, Anderson,
Clark, Torem, Bowman, Coons, Chu, Dill, Loewenstein, and Braun (1996, p. 673) argue that
many clinical studies have shown that higher levels of detachment are linked strongly to previous
traumatic events. Similarly, Van der Kolk, Pelcovitz, Roth, Mandel, McFarlane, and Herman
(1996, p. 85) deduce that various studies indicate that people who undergo trauma are most
likely to develop dissociative responses. Illustrating the studies of Chu and Dill, 1990, Saxe et
al., 1993, these authors debate that research on individuals with strong ratings on the
Dissociative Experiences Scale reveals a strong relation between dissociation and stated
childhood trauma. The authors explain that dissociation evolves originally as an adaptive
response, which helps individuals classify or categorize traumatic events to minimize their
impact. (e.g., Putnam, 1989, Classen et al., 1993). However, the repeated use of dissociation as a
coping mechanism can become chronic, increasing the risk of potential psychological
abnormalities. (e.g., Van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995).
This fractured nature of dissociation and its characteristics develop breaks within the psyche
where events and experiences are repressed, making these covered elements of the consciousness
resurface in both familiar and unfamiliar manners, creating a link between the internal world of
the mind and external experiences. This notion explained in Freud’s concept of the uncanny,
depicting the eerie sensation that emerges from something familiar presented strangely
unfamiliar.
When we ask ourselves what frightens us and what makes us scared after watching
something scary at night, we realize that it’s the fact that we are afraid of people who don’t act
like us, and things that we don’t understand. This biased way of perceiving the others as evil or
frightening leads us to address and explore another type of fear, one that is triggered by aspects
that are not familiar to us. Sigmund Freud raises concern to this in a 1919 essay “The Uncanny,”
and his views on the matter are still useful 100 years later. In this part of the research, I intend to
outline his definition of this specific type of fear and then show you how you might apply it to
your own examinations of literature.
 In his essay, Freud starts with an unusual statement. The word for uncanny in German is
“unheimlich,” which translates literally for” not from the home”, or in other words,” not
familiar”. This explanation of its definition affirms what I just said about the others above, we
fear what is not from the home. Yet Freud also remarks that unheimlich or uncanny has in
specific circumstances been used to indicate a concealed thing within the home and never
intended to be revealed.
Which is very odd and bizarre, as it implies that the meaning of unheimlich and heimlich,
or uncanny and canny, interrelate. Like the word buckle, which can mean to separate or to unite,
uncanny therefore means itself and its contrast simultaneously. Odd, right?
In order to clarify the contradiction, Freud shifts to his general theory of the self and
questions what could be covered among us that unexpectedly resurfaces and startles us. As
previously known, Freud was entirely hooked with the developments and transformations that
alters in our minds as we evolve from youth to maturity. When we are in the early years of our
lives, Freud indicates that we are passionately attached to our mothers, because they nourish and
guard us. Whatever or whoever interferes with the way of this loyal and committed love turns
into a danger that must be removed in our unreasonable infant brain, no matter if that danger is in
fact our father.
Freud isn’t pointing out that our fully developed logical being wishes to perform these
behaviors, Instead Freud is implying that the persona we previously were as an infant continues
to exist within us, covered below our original logical mature self.
The uncanny appears to be connected to views and principles we kept in the past when we
were kids that we’ve suppressed or buried away to grow up into mature individuals. We hide
these views because they are wrong and we seek to avoid being in the wrong. We wish to be
fully grown people, and we desire to be reasonable individuals with appropriate mindsets
regarding the world.
And the procedure of flourishing requires a long duration and energy from us. It would be
terrifying to picture as people that our younger self had a stronger awareness of the universe than
we do. For Freud, this is what is known as the uncanny. It is the anxiety we undergo in
circumstances where our young foolish imaginations and worries look authentic and accurate
more than our adult perspectives.
 The moment we hold on to this belief in our consciousness, the distinction between
ordinary elements that thrills us and ordinary elements that spooks us begin to add up and be
reasonable.
the mechanism of the uncanny is conceptualized from different viewpoints, as in language
and meaning in contrast to perception, literary writing and legend in contrast to the ordinary and
analytic methods, subjectivity in contrast to collective human experience. Freud's essay is
considered an immediate reaction to the psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch's analysis for ӆber die
Psychologie des Unheimlichen" which translates to ”Concerning the Psychology of the
Uncanny" For Freud. About Jentsch, the uncanny is a particular moderate pattern of dread,
associated to specific occurrences in the real world and to particular impulses in literature,
primarily in supernatural fiction . For example the doppelgänger which mirrors the return of the
suppressed material, blurring the identity and the self, whereby triggering the uncanny.
Unfamiliar patterns, such as deja vu or repeated events. the supreme control of ideas, i.e., the
idea that your desires or fantasies become real. the uncertainty between the living and the non
living ( dolls, mannequins, objects moving), and phenomenas associated with insanity, irrational
belief or demise. From the beginning of his study, Freud characterizes the uncanny as an artistic
phenomena, and given that the uncanny is linked to stylistics also justifies the personal
experience. Freud emphasizes that only few individuals are evenly prone to the sensation of the
uncanny, and the set of events is not definitive, nor widely acknowledged, particularly in
literature, it relies on the interpretation of the subject matter regardless of if the intent is uncanny
or not. However, Freud is not questioning the presence of the feeling in itself, in both ordinary
life and in literature, the uncanny happens, if not, there would be no exact term to identify it.
So far, for his essay on the uncanny, Freud permits to a more profound understanding of
the behavioral concept. He connects the unheimliche to the classical term of “intempesta nocte”,
which is the unfamiliar night, and “locus suspectus”, referring to the unfamiliar space, inserting
the time and space aspect to the framework, with or without conscious awarness. Freud argues
that the transformation departing from an ordinary circumstance to an unfamiliar one combined
with the sensation of a threat are fundamental in an uncanny environment. Hence, he rejects
whatever new as uncanny, he asserts that it cannot be produced from the base, but establishing
the peculiar setting through life span. For Freud, the uncanny is shaped and influenced by
“eeriness”, the unachievable urge to comeback to the sanctuary. It is not a plain or basic feeling
of alientation, but the essential pattern of the ordinary to revert back on those involved,
unexpectedly to grow estranged, disoriented, dehumanized, resembling a dream like state. Until
the present moment, the uncanny does not inherently belong to an area or a place nor could it be
triggered through a specific architectural arrangement. In this regard, it is possibly challenging
difcult to discuss an “constructional” uncanny, in the similar words as a fictional or behavioral
one; surely no facility, no specific results of structure can be assured to stimulate an uncanny
sensation still. All there is is interior design which sometimes and for specific objectives is
characterized with uncanny features.
In 1992, Anthony Vidler established the first clear link between architecture and the
uncanny by identifying design elements in already-existing structures that evoke the
unheimliche. For instance, Rem Koolhaas' Seattle Library (and his proposal for the National
French Library) creates an uncanny effect through mirroring and disorienting duplication,
affecting observers without any precondition, while Coop Himmelblau's Rooftop Office defies
anthropometric norms, creating a fragmented, nearly dismembered spatial experience. Vidler
also reinforces the significance of collective memory, utilizing Berlin's Reichsbank building as
an example. As a result of its preliminary association to Third Reich ideological campaign, the
building's reapply as a governmental space caused social unrest and revealed a desire to reject
the past. An imbalance between form and function, labyrinthine layouts, mirror reflections,
exposure of hidden dimensions, trompe l'oeil effects, and disproportionate scale in relation to the
human body from expansive urban landscapes to cramped underground passageways are some of
the features of spaces that evoke the uncanny. The technological uncanny also appears in modern
settings: as Marshall McLuhan noted, electronic screens and digital replicas of reality create a
disembodied perception that dissolves the solidity of walls and blurs temporal and spatial
boundaries. Interior subjectivity may become unstable in an infinite virtual space, leading to
feelings of estrangement and deterritorialization.
The uncanny, or das Unheimliche, continues to be seen as an unconventional or marginal
subject, just as it was when Freud first wrote about it. This may be because it is not really a
“topic” or a formal “concept” that can be neatly studied or defined. Instead, the uncanny
represents a very particular type of experience or scene, one that challenges the usual distinction
between subject and object. In other words, it disrupts the normal assumptions we rely on in
science and scholarship, such as the idea that the observer or the subject is separate from what is
being observed, which is the object. The uncanny forces us to confront situations where these
boundaries blur, making us question the way we normally understand, experiment with, and
perceive the world.
Postmodern Urban and Media Theory
Postmodern culture emerged as a reaction against the Modern Movement, especially the
strict and rigid approach of the International Style in architecture. Instead of following fixed
rules or a single style, postmodern architecture embraces freedom, variety, and experimentation.
This shift has led to major changes in cities, sometimes resulting in urban spaces that feel chaotic
or disconnected from people’s everyday experiences. In these postmodern cities, both space and
time are transformed, creating environments that reflect the complexity of contemporary life.
Postmodernism aims to introduce a new kind of expression, not only in art but also in culture,
producing an aesthetic that is often contradictory yet representative of modern society. As a
result, architecture begins to reflect a new kind of society, one that is no longer bound by the
aesthetic, philosophical, and social constraints of the mid-twentieth century.
However, defining “postmodernism” is not easy, as the term has sparked many debates and
interpretations. Rather than being a clearly defined artistic movement, postmodernity can be
understood as a response to the crisis of modernity—a critique of its ideas and assumptions. This
diversity of interpretations makes it difficult to establish shared social values or universal
principles. The postmodern city is closely tied to the concept of the urban imaginary, which is
shaped by a mix of personal memories, images, and imagined ideas influenced by how
individuals perceive and understand space.
Postmodernism positions itself as an anti-modern movement, attempting to move away
from the limitations of modernity, such as uniformity and rigidity. Yet, it does not always fully
escape these constraints. Postmodern architecture reflects broader social and technological
changes, offering a new type of city where individuals encounter spaces that differ greatly from
the plain and often impersonal buildings of the Modern Movement. Over time, architects moved
away from strict modernist geometry and began introducing more decorative and diverse
designs. Buildings started to include elements like irregular shapes, multiple levels, and visible
ornamentation, replacing the simplicity of earlier styles.
Urban planning also changed significantly. The Modern Movement promoted separating
different social functions and contributed to the decline of shared public spaces like sidewalks. In
contrast, postmodern urban design seeks to reconnect these elements, creating more integrated
and accessible environments. Architects and planners aimed to encourage social interaction by
reintroducing features such as porches and walkable streets, promoting a sense of community
and environmental awareness.
To understand postmodern cities as a form of art, it is necessary to examine them through
aesthetics, philosophy, and architectural theory. Many postmodern urban spaces can be seen as
idealized or even unrealistic environments that resemble what Marc Augé describes as “non-
places.” These are spaces mainly designed for transit, consumption, or leisure, often lacking a
strong sense of identity or memory. As a result, they can feel temporary and detached, creating
what can be described as “amnesiac” spaces. The rise of postmodernism reflects a desire for
change and new forms of expression. It combines cultural and artistic elements to produce a
constantly shifting aesthetic that mirrors contemporary society. The development of postmodern
cities relies heavily on symbols, signs, and images that respond to social demands. Rather than
focusing on accommodating individuals in a meaningful way, these cities often aim to entertain
and distract. They present dream-like, artificial environments that give the illusion of a perfect,
personalized world. In this context, architecture becomes a way of materializing postmodern
ideas. Cities are shaped by symbolic representations that align with cultural and social
expectations. During this period, there is also a tendency to create larger urban spaces that may
feel impersonal or lacking in deeper meaning. However, these spaces remain recognizable
through their strong use of visual symbols and imagery. Understanding postmodern cities,
therefore, requires interpreting these symbols and how they influence people’s perception of
space. Architects use these elements to build new forms of urban identity, shaped by evolving
cultural values and social demands.
When considering urban space, time and memory play an important role. Urban
environments are not only physical but also shaped by individual experiences and past memories.
However, in postmodern cities, individuals can feel confused or disoriented, becoming mere
observers rather than active participants. Rapid changes in the urban landscape can make people
feel disconnected from their own cities. Older urban centers are often restored to attract tourists,
turning them into spaces that resemble copies of themselves rather than authentic places. As a
result, city centers lose their original function, while residential life moves to the outskirts.
Central areas become focused on tourism, filled with museums, hotels, and entertainment
venues. The distinction between “place” and “non-place” becomes important here. A “place” is
an organized space where people live and interact, forming meaningful connections. In contrast,
a “non-place” is defined more by signs and functions than by identity or human experience. Non-
places are common in postmodern cities and include locations such as airports, train stations,
highways, hotels, supermarkets, and amusement parks. These spaces are designed for specific
purposes, often emphasizing efficiency and movement rather than personal connection. They do
not provide a sense of identity or belonging. Instead, they can make individuals feel isolated,
even when surrounded by others experiencing the same situation.
In such environments, the relationship between space, time, and identity weakens. People
may feel lost, unable to connect with their surroundings in a meaningful way. The only reference
point becomes the non-place itself, where individuals adopt similar, almost automatic behaviors.
These experiences are not personal but shared in a uniform and impersonal manner, reflecting
the broader characteristics of postmodern urban life.
In modern fiction, alienation is no longer seen as only a psychological condition—it is
strongly connected to space, especially the city. Alienated characters often experience urban
environments as fragmented, overwhelming, or emotionally cold. The city is not just a physical
setting; it also acts as a psychological space that shapes how people think, feel, and behave. With
the rise of industrialization, technology, and globalization, cities have become places full of
contradictions. They offer opportunities and diversity, but at the same time create feelings of
isolation, anonymity, and emotional disconnection.
Alienation, in this sense, is a passive emotional condition where individuals feel cut off
from meaningful connections in ways that seem impossible to repair. It involves a deep sense of
loss, sadness, and longing for something that cannot be regained or replaced. This feeling is often
accompanied by helplessness, as individuals feel powerless against larger social forces. Although
this condition is mostly passive, it can sometimes lead to sudden outbursts of anger or protest,
which quickly fade back into silence and withdrawal.
A common theme in modern fiction is the contradiction of being surrounded by people yet
feeling completely alone. Cities bring large numbers of people together, but relationships are
often weak or temporary. Writers frequently describe crowded streets filled with strangers,
public transport full of silent passengers, and apartment buildings where neighbors do not know
each other. In Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, the lively streets of London appear full of life,
yet they feel emotionally distant. Clarissa’s walks through the city reveal her deep inner
loneliness despite being surrounded by people. Similarly, in the works of Haruki Murakami,
especially those set in Tokyo, characters move through bright, crowded urban spaces while
feeling disconnected from both themselves and others. The intense sensory experience of the city
—noise, lights, advertisements—often pushes individuals to retreat inward as a way to protect
themselves.
Alienation also reflects a complex psychological condition in which the self feels separated
from something it is actually connected to. It highlights the difficulty of understanding human
existence, especially in the modern world. Literature often portrays this condition through
characters who suffer from emotional separation and a sense of meaninglessness. This theme is
especially visible in contemporary urban narratives and is central to many of Murakami’s works,
such as A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance, Norwegian Wood, and Colorless Tsukuru
Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. In these stories, alienation is not just a personal issue but a
defining feature of modern human life.
More broadly, alienation has become a key theme in understanding the human condition
today. It reflects how individuals relate to the world around them in ways that create
dissatisfaction or a sense of loss. As suggested by Walter Kaufmann, calling someone alienated
means recognizing that their relationship with something important in their life leads to
avoidable unhappiness or lack of fulfillment. In modern fiction, this idea continues to shape how
writers explore identity, space, and emotional experience in an increasingly complex and
disconnected world.
Jean Baudrillard (1989), in America, use the idea of “hyperreality” to explain how people
increasingly understand the world through simulations rather than direct experience. As society
becomes more shaped by communication technologies and media, it also becomes more
“hyperreal,” meaning that reality is experienced in a way that is increasingly distant from what is
actually real. Hyperreality and simulation are closely connected, since both involve the
production of copies, images, or signs that no longer have a clear link to any original reality. In
this sense, hyperreality describes a version of reality that appears more real than reality itself.
This creates a paradox: while hyperreality seems convincing, it also raises serious concerns,
especially because media and mass culture replace authentic experiences with artificial
reproductions of objects, events, and everyday life. Essentially, the copy becomes more
important and more believable than the original.

Hyperreality can also be understood as a new condition shaped by modern technology and
communication systems. It brings major changes to how people live and perceive the world,
along with new problems and uncertainties. A related idea is the concept of the “phygital,” which
combines “physical” and “digital” to describe how everyday life is now influenced by both real
and virtual environments. For example, technologies like the hyperMirror allow people in
different places to interact as if they were in the same room, even though they are not physically
together (Kipper and Rampolla, 2013). This blending of physical and digital realities shows not
only how these worlds merge but also how difficult it has become to tell them apart, as seen in
technologies like augmented reality.

Because of this, hyperreality encourages us to think carefully about what reality actually is, what
defines it, and how it might change in the future. In a hyperreal world, the idea of an “original”
object loses its importance because it belongs to a different level of reality and no longer serves
as a stable reference point. This does not mean that reality disappears completely, but rather that
as societies try to organize and present reality in a unified and coherent way, it begins to feel
unstable and uncertain. As a result, people may feel more anxious or insecure. Baudrillard
describes hyperreality as a precise reproduction of reality, often through media like photography,
where the reproduced image becomes more significant than the original. This is clearly visible in
consumer culture, where the image of a product, celebrity, or public figure is often more valuable
than the actual object or person. Techniques like photo editing, advertising, branding, and media
campaigns enhance these images, removing imperfections and shaping perception.

Baudrillard also argues that the overwhelming number of signs and meanings in modern
global society has, paradoxically, led to the disappearance of reality itself. In this context,
traditional ideologies such as liberalism or Marxism lose their influence. Rather than living in a
connected “global village,” as Marshall McLuhan suggested, people now live in a world that can
be easily shaken by even small events. Since global systems operate mainly through the
exchange of signs and commodities, they often fail to recognize deeper symbolic actions, such as
acts of terrorism. In Baudrillard’s view, symbols and signs function differently: while signs can
be exchanged like goods in a market, symbols involve more complex and sometimes intense
forms of exchange, similar to gift-giving rituals.

Simulation, in this framework, refers to the process by which copies, or simulacra, take on
a life of their own. According to Baudrillard, there is no longer an original reality that comes
first; instead, reality itself is created through the spread of images and representations, especially
in advertising and media. Simulation therefore involves the transformation of reality into a series
of images that replace it. This reflects a broader postmodern tendency to question the idea of
origins or beginnings. Unlike the philosophy of Plato, which placed higher value on original
ideas over their copies, postmodern thought rejects this hierarchy. For centuries, Western thought
has separated reality from its representation, but simulation challenges this distinction by
suggesting that reality may no longer exist in its original form. Baudrillard explains that when
reality loses its meaning, people become nostalgic for it. As a result, there is an increase in
attempts to recreate authenticity, truth, and lived experience, even though these are often
artificial. This leads to an intense effort to produce something that feels real, even when it is not.

Despite this, some contemporary theorists argue that Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality
is not a useful tool for understanding trauma or literary representation, but rather an abstract and
unclear idea. However, examples of complex, hybrid realities can be found in magical realist
literature. In this type of writing, readers are expected to accept a world where ordinary and
extraordinary elements exist together. Reality is presented as layered and multifaceted, requiring
interpretation. Unlike Baudrillard’s hyperreality, which is often seen as shallow and detached
from meaning, magical realist images are deeper and more emotionally grounded. They emerge
from a questioning attitude toward reality and aim to recreate experiences that are difficult to
represent, especially traumatic events.

This recreated “felt reality” differs from the idea of “felt history,” which refers to how
characters express the emotional impact of events. In magical realism, the experience of reality is
often delayed because the original event was too overwhelming to fully understand at the time.
As a result, the narrative reconstructs these experiences later, transforming them into meaningful
stories. Magical realist images often attempt to represent trauma by conveying the emotional
intensity that initially prevented clear narration. For example, in novels like One Hundred Years
of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, scenes of
violence are described indirectly, using metaphors rather than explicit details, allowing readers to
feel the emotional weight of the events.

Through this process, traumatic experiences are transformed into narrative memory. To
fully understand how magical realism works, it is important to consider related genres such as
fantasy, the fantastic, the marvelous, and the uncanny, all of which influence its development. At
its core, magical realism is concerned with representing reality. Writers use magical or illogical
elements as a way to cope with a world dominated by scientific thinking and rationality.
Interestingly, these imaginative methods often succeed where realistic descriptions fail. This
raises an important question: does postmodern literature represent reality, substitutes for reality,
or simply simulations? Magical realism, in particular, highlights the artificial nature of its own
imagery in order to reveal the limitations and hidden absences within reality itself.

Haruki Murakami’s After Dark unfolds entirely at night in Tokyo, presenting the city as
more than just a physical space—it becomes a place of shifting realities and hidden depths.
While Murakami is often praised for writing “urban novels,” his focus is not on the city as a
straightforward setting, but rather on its unseen or uncanny aspects (Matsumoto 2010: 132).
Kamiyama (2008) highlights that Murakami’s spatial imagination creates worlds that feel unreal
or otherworldly, suggesting a cityscape shaped by perception rather than physical logic.
At the start of After Dark, Tokyo is depicted almost like a living organism, pulsating and
breathing in ways that unsettle the observer (Murakami, 2007, p. 3). Murakami then turns to the
city’s entertainment districts, where towering digital screens flash brightly and booming music
fills the streets, producing a dazzling, neon-saturated environment (Murakami, 2007, p. 4). These
spaces, where nightlife follows its own rules, exemplify a reality that feels simulated constructed
through signs, media, and sensory overload rather than organic life. From a postmodern
perspective, this blending of perception and reality mirrors Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality,
where the distinction between the real and its representation dissolves. In Murakami’s Tokyo,
mediated images, electronic screens, and artificial lights replace the familiar with a heightened,
almost hallucinatory version of the city. His work reflects the postmodern condition in which
knowledge, truth, and human experience are constantly questioned, and where fear of losing
reality to representation becomes central.
 Murakami’s urban nightscape negotiates cultural and philosophical contrasts—East and
West, utopia and dystopia—through its simulated environment. The city becomes a space of
transcreation, where Eastern and Western symbols coexist, yet their meanings are reshaped and
destabilized. In this sense, Murakami’s Tokyo exemplifies Baudrillard’s idea that in
contemporary societies, we experience the world not directly, but through layers of signs, media,
and simulations that construct a new, hyperreal city—one that feels alive but is always slightly
unreal.
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