1980s 20.-lifes-meaning a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity academic adventure alienation allegorical alternate-reality alternative-reality animal animal-symbolism animals atmospheric avant-garde bildungsroman biography bizarre british cambridge character-driven chase coming-of-age consciousness conspiracy contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature counterculture covert-operations cult cult-classic cult-following culture-clash dark dark-comedy dark-humor darkness destiny detachment detective detective-fiction detective-story dream-like dreamlike dreams dystopia dystopian eccentric eccentric-characters enigmatic enigmatic-characters escape existence existential existentialism experimental exploration fantasy fate fiction folklore friendship genius groundbreaking haruki haruki-murakami haunting identity identity-crisis imagination individuality influential intellectual intelligence international introspection introspective isolation japan japanese japanese-culture japanese-fiction japanese-literature journey kafkaesque literary literary-fiction literature literature-in-translation literature-translation loneliness loner longing loss lost love love-story magic-realism magical magical-creatures magical-realism manipulation mathematician metafiction metaphorical metaphysical metaphysics mind-bending missing-person modern modern-classic modern-fiction modern-literature modernism murakami murakami-style music mysterious mystery mystical myth mythology nobel-prize noir nostalgia novel obsession parallel-reality parallel-universe parallel-universes parallel-worlds philosophical philosophy physics pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism power-dynamics protagonist psychological pulp-fiction puzzling quantum-field-theory quantum-mechanics quest quests quirky reality redemption romance romantic satire scientific-revolution self-discovery sheep sheep-chase sheep-man simplicity social-commentary solitude spiritual-journey spirituality storytelling subconscious supernatural supernatural-elements surreal surrealism surrealist surrealistic-elements suspense suspenseful symbolic symbolic-animals symbolism symbols talking-animals technology theoretical-physics thought-provoking thriller tokyo transformation translation uncanny unconventional unexplained-phenomena unique-narrative unknown urban urban-fantasy urban-life wild-sheep yakuza