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Underground (stories)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Literature

   CAPTION: Underground

   Author Haruki Murakami
   Original title (if not in English) アンダーグラウンド
   Andāguraundo'
   Translator Alfred Birnbaum, Philip Gabriel
   Country Japan
   Language English
   Genre(s) Non-Fiction
   Publisher Kodansha, Bungeishunjusha (Japan) / Harvill (UK) / Vintage
   (US)
   Released Japan 1997-1998 / UK 2000
   Media Type Print ( Hardback)
   Pages 309 (UK hardback edition)
   ISBN 1860467571
   Preceded by The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
   Followed by Sputnik Sweetheart

   Underground (アンダーグラウンド, Andāguraundo^ ?, 1997- 1998) is a book by
   Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami about the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin
   gas attack on the Tokyo subway. Described as a work of "journalistic
   literature," it collects a series of separate interviews Murakami
   conducted with 60 victims of the attacks and 8 members of Aum,
   descriptions of how the attacks were carried out, and his essay "Blind
   Nightmare: Where are we Japanese going?"

   Underground was originally published in Japan (in Japanese) without the
   interviews of Aum members - they were published in the magazine Bungei
   Shunju before being collected in a separate volume, The Place That Was
   Promised. The English translation combines both books into a single
   volume, but has been abridged to achieve this. The translation of
   Underground was performed by Alfred Birnbaum, with that of The Place
   That Was Promised being done by Philip Gabriel.

Motivations

   In his introduction to the book Murakami describes his motivations for
   writing it:

     The Japanese media had bombarded us with so many in-depth profiles
     of the Aum cult perpetrators--the 'attackers'--forming such a slick,
     seductive narrative that the average citizen--the 'victim'--was an
     afterthought . . . which is why I wanted, if at all possible, to get
     away from any formula; to recognise that each person on the subway
     that morning had a face, a life, a family, hopes and fears,
     contradictions and dilemmas--and that all these factors had a place
     in the drama . . .

     Furthermore, I had a hunch that we needed to see a true picture of
     all the survivors, whether they were severely traumatized or not, in
     order to better grasp the whole incident.

   Jay Rubin holds that Murakami also had highly personal reasons for
   wanting to write Underground, notably that he wished to learn more
   about Japan after living almost entirely abroad for nine years and that
   he wanted to fulfill a responsibility he felt towards Japan's society.

Method

   The interviews in Underground were conducted throughout 1996, being
   recorded on tape, then transcribed and edited. Draft interviews were
   then sent to the interviewees before publication for fact-checking and
   to allow them to cut any parts they did not want published.

   At the start of each interview, Murakami asked general questions about
   the subject's life, allowing him to build a background picture of them
   which is included before each interview. He did this to "give them a
   face", thus avoiding creating, "a collection of disembodied voices".
   His interviews with victims have been seen as similar in style to those
   of Studs Terkel's Working, an influence that Murakami admits along with
   that of Bob Greene. His interviews with Aum members are intentionally
   more combative.

Conclusions

   Murakami concludes the victim-interviews with the essay, "Blind
   Nightmare". In it he strongly criticises the Japanese response to the
   gas attacks, calling their crisis management system, "erratic and
   sorely inadequate". He further worries that the government's lack of
   openness about their failings may lead to their repetition. He also
   talks about one factor which led to the attacks - the handing over of
   personal responsibility by cult members to Aum leader Shoko Asahara - a
   trait which irritated him during interviews with Aum members.

Reception

   The original Underground (sans Aum interviews) was seen by some critics
   as being "one-sided", a view which Murakami himself shared, leading to
   his publishing The Place That Was Promised. Despite this possible bias,
   the original Underground sold 270,000 copies within two months of its
   Japanese release.

Common themes

   The stories of those interviewed in the book share many common themes:
     * Working overtime seems to be normal for the interviewees - many
       talk of waking up early so they could arrive at work up to 90
       minutes before it officially began.
     * Almost half of the female interviewees mentioned being regular
       victims of chikan - groping of women by fellow commuters on the
       subway (none ever attempted to report this to the authorities).
     * Despite the noticeable discomfort caused by the gas, not a single
       interviewee asked other passengers what was going on, preferring to
       wait until the next stop to change trains.
     * Passengers that lost consciousness remained lying on the floor for
       some time. Commuters, with a few notable exceptions, did not
       attempt to help them, but instead waited for employees whose
       authority allowed them to intervene.
     * Despite casual references throughout the book, Aum Shinrikyo itself
       is touched on only briefly in the preface to the book and its
       conclusion (although this is redressed by the Aum narratives
       published later).
     * Not all of the victims blame Aum and call for hard judgements, the
       Japanese edition even includes an interview with a man who refused
       to admit being a victim and considers his involvement to have been
       "lucky".
     * A large number of those suffering from post-traumatic problems
       suffer more from mental disabilities rather than the physical
       effects of the gas itself.
     * Some victims recovered faster than others, with no apparent
       correlation between recovery time and the amount of gas they
       consumed.
     * Although suffering from extreme physical symptons from inhaling
       sarin, most of the victims continued with their planned activities.
       For many this included going to work - some only went to hospital
       for treatment reluctantly, when their superiors insisted.
     * Some victims radically changed their lifestyle to start focusing on
       'what's important'.
     * Despite other sarin-related incidents which occurred previously,
       hospitals and ambulances were caught unprepared and many victims
       had to use taxis to get to the hospitals.
     * Media coverage concentrated on Aum more than on gas attack victims,
       overlooking their experiences.

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