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43 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1983
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2,200 people want to read
About the author
Haruki Murakami
608?books128k?followersHaruki Murakami (村上春树) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the 欧宝娱乐 Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.
Growing up in Ashiya, near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009–10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989–2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner.
His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre.
Growing up in Ashiya, near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009–10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989–2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner.
His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre.
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March 3, 2021
Where do I even start? Murakami's Barn Burning took me by surprise and quite frankly, blew my fucking breath away. I’ve read the story before, in 2016, and paid no mind to it, but this time around I have been prompted to read it again, since I’m taking a course at university in which we analyse and interpret the story (in comparison to its movie adaption Burning, directed by Lee Chang-dong).
You can read the story , since there’s really no point in reading this review if you haven’t read the story yourself. It’s 12 pages long. Just do it.
There’s a hint of obsession in the work as well. After a series of events that draw the narrator’s unnamed female friend to Algeria, where she meets a wealthy man who claims to be in trade and business, the narrator finds himself in a mysterious situation when the man suddenly reveals that he burns down barns. Subtle hints indicate the idea that there is something more than mere barns being burnt – there’s an air of foreboding when the man describes the barns as carefully chosen so as to not attract attention when they suddenly disappear. Informing the narrator that the next victim of arson will be close by, he takes it upon himself to mark all of the barns in nearby Tokyo that could be raised to the ground without notice, only to be disappointed by the lack of barn burning.
In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the protagonist Toru Okada sees his wife and cat leave him suddenly and separately for equally mysterious reasons. It takes Okada confining himself to the pitch darkness at the bottom of a well to be able to see things from a more detached perspective.
In Norwegian Wood, Murakami writes, “if you’re in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark.” The common denominator here is the fact that you need to patiently look at the nothingness contained in mundane corners of the world in order to see them as something extraordinary. So what’s so extraordinary about burning barns?
When the narrator goes months on end without seeing his female friend, it becomes clear that barn burning was merely a metaphor – and a powerful one at that – one that oozes mystery and silence, along with a hint of sadness at the ease with which things, including people, are forgotten in the world.
Barn Burning is a brilliant short story (novella?) by Haruki Muraki. Its main theme, in my opinion, is the construction and deconstruction of reality in said short story. There’s an underlying surrealism throughout the entire story which makes us question reality, on the one hand, but also the fictionality of the events, on the other hand.
It’s nearly impossible for the reader to decide what’s really “real” in this story … by the end of it, we are left with nearly nothing. We don’t know if barns are actually burned in the story … we don’t know if the woman, who seems to be the center of the story, has vanished, was maybe murdered or didn’t even exist in the first place. The ending is open and confusing and the reader is purposefully left in the dark.
Barn Burning is only on the surface a mystery-thriller. If you look underneath that surface we see that the mystery elements lead us into the mysteries of our lives, our politics, our economy and sociology. It also makes us question what we see and what we don’t see, what exists and doesn’t exist. It asks what is metaphor, what is storytelling? There are no answers to these questions. And that might be hard for some readers to swallow … since most of us want to have answers, we want to solve the mystery of our lives. But you won’t find any answers in Barn Burning. You have to perceive the story for what it is: this is not a murder mystery. This is a story which asks you to reflect on the meaning of life and the texture of existence.
In most conventionally told narratives we can trust the narrator. We, as readers, don’t have to scrutinise their words. We can classify everything they tell us as “real” and “true”. In Barn Burning however, we are faced with an extremely unreliable narrator. His unreliability is made known to us on several different occasions in the story. You definitely have to dig to catch all of them, but Murakami presents us with many different reasons not to trust our narrator.
First and foremost, the narrator, who is also the protagonist, is a writer himself. He lets us know that he is currently working on a story. So, whilst reading this short story, one cannot shake the dooming feeling that we might be watching a writer at work … are we just witnessing how he’s getting inspired to write a story? Are all of the other characters made up and just sprung from his mind? It seems likely.
The story is told in first person. Everything we see, we see through the eyes of the narrator/protagonist; which also means that we only see what he wants us to see. Nothing more. He is in the perfect position to manipulate us as readers. We have to distinguish this narrator in the part of him that actually lived through the events told in the story, and the part that is actually narrating the story in hindsight. The story is told in retrospect, which means that the narrator is recounting some events from his past. However, this is what the narrator says about himself:
There’s a great concept mentioned – the concept of “simultaneous existence”. It’s a concept that describes perfectly what Murakami does in his fiction. Reality and imagination seem to exist alongside each other. The lines are no longer clear. Murakami once said: “I am not religious. I only believe in the imagination. And that there is not just one reality. The real world and another, unreal world exist at the same time, they are very closely connected. Sometimes they get mixed up. And if I want to, if I concentrate hard, I can change sides. I can come and go. That happens in my literature. That's what it's all about. My stories play out sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, and I don't even notice the difference anymore.”
You can read the story , since there’s really no point in reading this review if you haven’t read the story yourself. It’s 12 pages long. Just do it.
You burn barns. I don’t burn barns. There’s this glaring difference, and to me, rather than say which of us is strange, first of all I’d like to clear up just what that difference is.Complete with nameless characters, a sense of loss, and an air of mystery tied to the true nature of reality, “Barn Burning” recounts a simplistic yet charged tale of arson.
There’s a hint of obsession in the work as well. After a series of events that draw the narrator’s unnamed female friend to Algeria, where she meets a wealthy man who claims to be in trade and business, the narrator finds himself in a mysterious situation when the man suddenly reveals that he burns down barns. Subtle hints indicate the idea that there is something more than mere barns being burnt – there’s an air of foreboding when the man describes the barns as carefully chosen so as to not attract attention when they suddenly disappear. Informing the narrator that the next victim of arson will be close by, he takes it upon himself to mark all of the barns in nearby Tokyo that could be raised to the ground without notice, only to be disappointed by the lack of barn burning.
In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the protagonist Toru Okada sees his wife and cat leave him suddenly and separately for equally mysterious reasons. It takes Okada confining himself to the pitch darkness at the bottom of a well to be able to see things from a more detached perspective.
In Norwegian Wood, Murakami writes, “if you’re in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark.” The common denominator here is the fact that you need to patiently look at the nothingness contained in mundane corners of the world in order to see them as something extraordinary. So what’s so extraordinary about burning barns?
When the narrator goes months on end without seeing his female friend, it becomes clear that barn burning was merely a metaphor – and a powerful one at that – one that oozes mystery and silence, along with a hint of sadness at the ease with which things, including people, are forgotten in the world.
Barn Burning is a brilliant short story (novella?) by Haruki Muraki. Its main theme, in my opinion, is the construction and deconstruction of reality in said short story. There’s an underlying surrealism throughout the entire story which makes us question reality, on the one hand, but also the fictionality of the events, on the other hand.
It’s nearly impossible for the reader to decide what’s really “real” in this story … by the end of it, we are left with nearly nothing. We don’t know if barns are actually burned in the story … we don’t know if the woman, who seems to be the center of the story, has vanished, was maybe murdered or didn’t even exist in the first place. The ending is open and confusing and the reader is purposefully left in the dark.
Barn Burning is only on the surface a mystery-thriller. If you look underneath that surface we see that the mystery elements lead us into the mysteries of our lives, our politics, our economy and sociology. It also makes us question what we see and what we don’t see, what exists and doesn’t exist. It asks what is metaphor, what is storytelling? There are no answers to these questions. And that might be hard for some readers to swallow … since most of us want to have answers, we want to solve the mystery of our lives. But you won’t find any answers in Barn Burning. You have to perceive the story for what it is: this is not a murder mystery. This is a story which asks you to reflect on the meaning of life and the texture of existence.
In most conventionally told narratives we can trust the narrator. We, as readers, don’t have to scrutinise their words. We can classify everything they tell us as “real” and “true”. In Barn Burning however, we are faced with an extremely unreliable narrator. His unreliability is made known to us on several different occasions in the story. You definitely have to dig to catch all of them, but Murakami presents us with many different reasons not to trust our narrator.
First and foremost, the narrator, who is also the protagonist, is a writer himself. He lets us know that he is currently working on a story. So, whilst reading this short story, one cannot shake the dooming feeling that we might be watching a writer at work … are we just witnessing how he’s getting inspired to write a story? Are all of the other characters made up and just sprung from his mind? It seems likely.
The story is told in first person. Everything we see, we see through the eyes of the narrator/protagonist; which also means that we only see what he wants us to see. Nothing more. He is in the perfect position to manipulate us as readers. We have to distinguish this narrator in the part of him that actually lived through the events told in the story, and the part that is actually narrating the story in hindsight. The story is told in retrospect, which means that the narrator is recounting some events from his past. However, this is what the narrator says about himself:
But perhaps my senses were wrong, too. I have a tendency to make my memory fit the circumstances.This means that we, as readers, have to question everything that he, as a narrator, tells us … his memories don’t have to be “real” or “true. He even admits that himself. In mimetically undecidable narration there is no stable and clearly determinable narrated world, so that the impression of unreliability is not only partial or temporary, but can apply to the whole text. There is a fundamental undecidability and uncertainty about what is actually the case in the narrated world. And that’s the exact case in Barn Burning. After reading the story one is so unsure that one cannot decide what is truthfully reported by the narrator and what is just his imagination.
And then she peeled mandarins. "Peeling tangerines" literally means peeling tangerines. On the left in front of her was a big glass bowl with a mountain of tangerines and on the right was a bowl for the peels - that was the arrangement - in reality there was nothing there. [...] If you tell it, it might not be anything special. But when I actually saw it directly in front of me for ten or twenty minutes, I felt as if I was deprived of any sense of reality.And that’s exactly how we as readers also feel when reading this story – we are deprived of any sense of reality. When the women explains why she mimes peeling tangerines, she explains: “Just don't think that there are tangerines here, just forget that there are not here. That's all.” For me, this is the key to understanding the story at hand. It’s a story about forgetting that something isn’t there. Our narrator, the author of this story, is practicing that act of pantomime. He himself has forgotten that the woman and the other man aren’t really there. The boundaries between fiction and reality blur. He only sees what he wants to see. And that also applies to us as readers. No matter who will read the story, you will always get a different look, a different interpretation of it. Everything depends on our on imagination, on what we want to see in this story.
There’s a great concept mentioned – the concept of “simultaneous existence”. It’s a concept that describes perfectly what Murakami does in his fiction. Reality and imagination seem to exist alongside each other. The lines are no longer clear. Murakami once said: “I am not religious. I only believe in the imagination. And that there is not just one reality. The real world and another, unreal world exist at the same time, they are very closely connected. Sometimes they get mixed up. And if I want to, if I concentrate hard, I can change sides. I can come and go. That happens in my literature. That's what it's all about. My stories play out sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, and I don't even notice the difference anymore.”
August 28, 2022
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April 11, 2023
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December 15, 2023
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January 28, 2020
???? ??? 2018 ? ?????? ???????? ? ??????
??? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ? ??????
?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?????
? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?? ????????? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ?????????? ? ?????? ??? ?????? , ??????? ??????? ??? ? ?? ?? ??????? ??????? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ? ????? ? ?? ???? ??? ? ??? ?? ???? ??????? .
?? ??? ?? ??? ? ?????? ? ??? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ? ????? ?? ?? ?????????? ???????.
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Burning 2018 ?? ???? ????? ????? ? ???? ??? ????? ? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ? ????? ???? , ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ? ??? ?????? ???? ? 3 ????? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ? ???? ??????? ?????? ? ?? ??? ??? ???? ? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? , ???? ???? ???? ???? ? ??? ????? ?????
??? ?? ?????? ???????? ? ??? ????? ???? ???? ????? ? ????? ? ????? ????? .
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* ??? ????? ??????? ? ?????? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ????? ????? ??? ? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ? ???? ??? ????? ????????? ? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ? ??? ????? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ? ?????? ???? .
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Burning 2018 ?? ???? ????? ????? ? ???? ??? ????? ? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ? ????? ???? , ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ? ??? ?????? ???? ? 3 ????? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ? ???? ??????? ?????? ? ?? ??? ??? ???? ? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? , ???? ???? ???? ???? ? ??? ????? ?????
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February 4, 2020
I came across this short story “Barn Burning” after watching the South Korean movie “Burning” which was loosely based on it. It’s about a nameless narrator, a girl who barely gets by and her enigmatic new boyfriend. I liked the movie, but I felt it was rather slow in the build-up. Otherwise, I loved this story as it is sinisterly mysterious and requires you to read between the lines to grasp what’s happening.
September 14, 2018
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November 19, 2017
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March 23, 2019 ?? ?? "????????" ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ?
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??? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?!!...
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??? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?!!...
October 22, 2016
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April 18, 2018
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April 29, 2016
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???? ??????? ??? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ???????! ????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ?? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????? ? ??? ????? ????? ???? ???????.
? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ??????....?? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?? ????? .
???? ??????? ??? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ???????! ????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ?? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????? ? ??? ????? ????? ???? ???????.
? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ??????....?? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?? ????? .
March 25, 2022
Murakami has a way of taking you on a magical trip, unlike fairy tales, it’s not filled to the brim with magical beings, rather ordinary characters and mundane events take on the cloak of magic and readers are transported to a new realm— so close yet so far away. What’s more-ordinarily extraordinary than this…!
This tale’s a strong recommendation for Murakami admirers.
Instead of drawing the gist of the tale, (as it's a work read and I'm being lazy asf) let me put the quotes that capture the heart of the tale and more importantly put Murakami’s secret of storytelling to the foreground— one needs a discerning eye to catch the subtle hints, but they are all there for grabs.
….Tangerine Peeling. As the name says, it involves peeling a tangerine. On her left was a bowl piled high with tangerines; on her right, a bowl for the peels. At least that was the idea. Actually, there wasn't anything there at all. She'd take an imaginary tangerine in her hand, slowly peel it, put one section in her mouth, and spit out the seeds. When she'd finished one tangerine, she'd wrap up all the seeds in the peel and deposit it in the bowl to her right. She repeated these movements over and over again. When you try to put it in words it doesn't sound like anything special. But if you see it with your own eyes for ten or twenty minutes (almost without thinking, she kept on performing it) gradually the sense of reality is sucked right out of everything around you. It's a very strange feeling.
…
"This? It's easy. It has nothing to do with talent. What you do isn't make yourself believe that there are tangerines there. You forget that the tangerines are not? there. That's all."
What I was looking for was a certain feeling. A feeling that had nothing to do with sympathy—or understanding.
Sometimes I burn down barns.
I won't get caught. The police aren't going to comb the streets over a lousy little barn burning down.
"You're a writer, so I thought you must be interested in patterns of human behavior. Writers are supposed to appreciate something for what it is, before they hand down a judgment or whatever. If 'appreciate' isn't the right word, maybe you can say they can accept things for what they are.”
"The world's full of barns, that are, like, waiting for me to burn them down. A barn all by itself beside the ocean, a barn in the middle of a rice paddy . . . Anyhow, all kinds of barns. Give me fifteen minutes, and I'll burn them dear to the ground. So it looks like there was never any barn there to begin with. No one gets choked up over it. It just... disappears. Whoosh!"
"I don't judge anything. The barns are waiting to be burned. I just accept that. I merely accept what's there. It's like the rain. The rain falls. The river swells up. Something gets carried away in the flow. Is the rain making a judgment? It's not like I'm out to commit an immoral act. I have my own code of morality. A sense of morality is important; people can't live without it. I think of it like this: morality is the delicate balance that's involved in parallel existence.
"Parallel existence? What do you mean?"
"In other words, I'm right here, but I'm over there, too. I'm in Tokyo, and at the same time I'm in Tunis. I can blame people and forgive them, all at once. There's a balance involved, and without it I don't think we'd be able to live. It's like a clasp—if it came undone we'd fill to pieces. But because it's there we can experience this kind of parallel existence.
… I had no clue what I should say next. I felt as if I were looking through a train window watching a weird landscape flash in and out of view. My body was relaxed, yet I couldn't grasp the details of the scenes passing by. But I could grasp, quite distinctly, the presence of my own body. And with it a trace of parallel existence: here's me, over here thinking. And here's another me, watching the first me thinking. Time ticked by in polyrhythmic precision.
I have a tendency to rework my memories to suit me.
For more please refer to this review. Leynes put what I thought in words and more.
/review/show...
This tale’s a strong recommendation for Murakami admirers.
Instead of drawing the gist of the tale, (as it's a work read and I'm being lazy asf) let me put the quotes that capture the heart of the tale and more importantly put Murakami’s secret of storytelling to the foreground— one needs a discerning eye to catch the subtle hints, but they are all there for grabs.
….Tangerine Peeling. As the name says, it involves peeling a tangerine. On her left was a bowl piled high with tangerines; on her right, a bowl for the peels. At least that was the idea. Actually, there wasn't anything there at all. She'd take an imaginary tangerine in her hand, slowly peel it, put one section in her mouth, and spit out the seeds. When she'd finished one tangerine, she'd wrap up all the seeds in the peel and deposit it in the bowl to her right. She repeated these movements over and over again. When you try to put it in words it doesn't sound like anything special. But if you see it with your own eyes for ten or twenty minutes (almost without thinking, she kept on performing it) gradually the sense of reality is sucked right out of everything around you. It's a very strange feeling.
…
"This? It's easy. It has nothing to do with talent. What you do isn't make yourself believe that there are tangerines there. You forget that the tangerines are not? there. That's all."
What I was looking for was a certain feeling. A feeling that had nothing to do with sympathy—or understanding.
Sometimes I burn down barns.
I won't get caught. The police aren't going to comb the streets over a lousy little barn burning down.
"You're a writer, so I thought you must be interested in patterns of human behavior. Writers are supposed to appreciate something for what it is, before they hand down a judgment or whatever. If 'appreciate' isn't the right word, maybe you can say they can accept things for what they are.”
"The world's full of barns, that are, like, waiting for me to burn them down. A barn all by itself beside the ocean, a barn in the middle of a rice paddy . . . Anyhow, all kinds of barns. Give me fifteen minutes, and I'll burn them dear to the ground. So it looks like there was never any barn there to begin with. No one gets choked up over it. It just... disappears. Whoosh!"
"I don't judge anything. The barns are waiting to be burned. I just accept that. I merely accept what's there. It's like the rain. The rain falls. The river swells up. Something gets carried away in the flow. Is the rain making a judgment? It's not like I'm out to commit an immoral act. I have my own code of morality. A sense of morality is important; people can't live without it. I think of it like this: morality is the delicate balance that's involved in parallel existence.
"Parallel existence? What do you mean?"
"In other words, I'm right here, but I'm over there, too. I'm in Tokyo, and at the same time I'm in Tunis. I can blame people and forgive them, all at once. There's a balance involved, and without it I don't think we'd be able to live. It's like a clasp—if it came undone we'd fill to pieces. But because it's there we can experience this kind of parallel existence.
… I had no clue what I should say next. I felt as if I were looking through a train window watching a weird landscape flash in and out of view. My body was relaxed, yet I couldn't grasp the details of the scenes passing by. But I could grasp, quite distinctly, the presence of my own body. And with it a trace of parallel existence: here's me, over here thinking. And here's another me, watching the first me thinking. Time ticked by in polyrhythmic precision.
I have a tendency to rework my memories to suit me.
For more please refer to this review. Leynes put what I thought in words and more.
/review/show...
Read
July 25, 2020????
" ?? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??? ?????.???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ? ????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? "
???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ???? . ??????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? .???? ????? ?? ???????
? /????
" ?? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??? ?????.???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ? ????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? "
???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ???? . ??????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? .???? ????? ?? ???????
? /????
September 18, 2018
???? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????? Burning ( ??????)
??? ????? ???????? ??? ?? .. ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ????? .
??? ????? ???????? ??? ?? .. ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ????? .
December 5, 2017
(??? ??? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? . ???? ?? ????? ???? ??? . ?? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? . ???? ??????? ??????? ?????? ? ?? ?????? ???? ? ????? ????? ???????? ??? ???? ? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ???? ? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ??????? ? ????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ?????
??? : ???? ??? ?????? ???
???? : ??? . ??? ?? ?? . ?? ????? ??????? ?? ??? . ??? ????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ? ?? ???? ??? ?? ???? ????? ? ??? ?? ?? ?? ????? )
/
???????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? .. ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ????? ? ????? ????? ?????? ? ????? ????? ???? ? ???? ?? ???? ?? ? ??? ???? ?? ? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???????
??? ?? ?? ..
!!
??? ???? ?? ???? ????? ????? .. ?????? ?? ??? ?? ???? .. ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????
????? .. ?????? .. ????? .. ???? ???? .. ???? ??? ??? ????? ???? .. ??? ???? - ??? ???? ?? ???? - ?? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ? ??? ??? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ????
????? ???? ???? ??????? ? ??? ?? ???? ??????? .. ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ... ????? ???? ???? ???????? ??? ????? .. ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??????
!!!
??? : ???? ??? ?????? ???
???? : ??? . ??? ?? ?? . ?? ????? ??????? ?? ??? . ??? ????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ? ?? ???? ??? ?? ???? ????? ? ??? ?? ?? ?? ????? )
/
???????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? .. ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ????? ? ????? ????? ?????? ? ????? ????? ???? ? ???? ?? ???? ?? ? ??? ???? ?? ? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ???????
??? ?? ?? ..
!!
??? ???? ?? ???? ????? ????? .. ?????? ?? ??? ?? ???? .. ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????
????? .. ?????? .. ????? .. ???? ???? .. ???? ??? ??? ????? ???? .. ??? ???? - ??? ???? ?? ???? - ?? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ? ??? ??? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ????
????? ???? ???? ??????? ? ??? ?? ???? ??????? .. ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ... ????? ???? ???? ???????? ??? ????? .. ?? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??????
!!!
January 28, 2018
?? ?? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ??????
??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ??? :)
???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????
??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??
?????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? :)
??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ??? :)
???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????
??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??
?????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? :)
Read
December 13, 2016???? ????? ????? ??? ???? .. ????? ??? ?? ????? !
March 30, 2022
"?? ????? ????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ?????. ????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ???? ????? ????. ?? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ?????"
??????? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ????????? ????????
??????? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ????????? ????????
September 25, 2019
It feels like nothing and everything at the same time.
December 26, 2021
?????? ??????? ????? ...
??? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ?
??? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ?
December 24, 2022
Dark and unsettling but it’s only when you get to the end of the story that it becomes clearer(nothing is confirmed) what has actually happened.
July 22, 2019
My beloved mysterious Murakami <3
September 11, 2019
???????? ??????
October 19, 2022
??? ?? ?????? ???? "?????"? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? "??????????" ?? ???????? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ????.
??? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ??????. ?? ?????? ??? ????????? ????????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ? ????? ???????? ????? ?? ? ???????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ???? ? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ??? ? ?? ????? ? ????????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ?? ????? ? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ? ?????? ??? ????? ???.
???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ????? ????? ??????? ?? ?? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ? ?? ???? ????? ????? ? ????? ????? ??? ???? ??????... ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?? ????? ? ???????? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ? ????? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ???.
????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ???? ? ?? ??? ????? ? ???? ?? ?? ????? ????? ???.
????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ? ???? ???? ? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ???.
??? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ??????. ?? ?????? ??? ????????? ????????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ? ????? ???????? ????? ?? ? ???????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ???? ? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ??? ? ?? ????? ? ????????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ?? ????? ? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ? ?????? ??? ????? ???.
???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ????? ????? ??????? ?? ?? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ? ?? ???? ????? ????? ? ????? ????? ??? ???? ??????... ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?? ????? ? ???????? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ? ????? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ???.
????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ???? ? ?? ??? ????? ? ???? ?? ?? ????? ????? ???.
????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ? ???? ???? ? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ???.
February 25, 2025
?????? ?????? ?????? "????? ?????" ?? ???????? ?? ????? ? ???? ???? Burning ?? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ?? ????.
???? ??? ???????? ???? ????. ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ???? ? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ????????.
?????? ???? ???????? ? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??????? ? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ??????. ???? ??? ???????? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???????. ???? ?????? ?? ????????.
???? Burning ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ? ?? ????? ?????? ????. ???????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????????? ?? ????. ????? ?? ??? ???????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ????? ? ?????? ??????? ?? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ????. (?????? ?????????? ????)
??? ???? ??????/???? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????/?????????? ???????. ???? "??" ?????? ????? ?? ?? ?? ??? ???? ????????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ??? ? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????????.
??? ????? ?? ??? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???????. ??? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ????? "???? 1979" ?? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ???????. ???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ????????? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ????.
???? ??? ???????? ???? ????. ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ???? ? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ????????.
?????? ???? ???????? ? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??????? ? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ??????. ???? ??? ???????? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???????. ???? ?????? ?? ????????.
???? Burning ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???? ? ?? ????? ?????? ????. ???????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????????? ?? ????. ????? ?? ??? ???????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ????? ? ?????? ??????? ?? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ????. (?????? ?????????? ????)
??? ???? ??????/???? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????/?????????? ???????. ???? "??" ?????? ????? ?? ?? ?? ??? ???? ????????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ??? ? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????????.
??? ????? ?? ??? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???????. ??? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ????? "???? 1979" ?? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ?? ?????????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ???????. ???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ????????? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ????.
September 6, 2022
VARDAMAN BUNDREN IN A KAFKAESQUE WORLD
“There was something about his wolflike independence and even courage when the advantage was at least neutral which impressed strangers, as if they got from his latent ravening ferocity not so much a sense of dependability as a feeling that his ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions would be of advantage to all whose interest lay with his.”
-William Faulkner,
I don’t know whether it is because of the Lee Chang-dong adaptation, or the fact that this story bears a resemblance to Murakami’s best lengthier works, yet remains effective as a much shorter, and compact version; it is one of my favourites. I wanted to go into a detailed analysis here but then decided against it, because it isn’t a very popular Murakami story as far as I can see here on 欧宝娱乐, and also because it’s, well, short.
The riddles in this story torment the reader with several questions (as does the film), but for justifiable, gravitating reasons. It's a winding road about the stories men tell themselves concerning women and other men, and also how our inaction exacerbates these stories. As intriguing as exhilarating, the plot revolves around a shackled author who, for the first time in this archetype's history, does not feel like a conscience of his competent creators.
The narrator here reluctantly, and maybe inadvertently, draws us along for a journey about what happens whenever a man no longer has control over his own and other people's tales. And therein he states his favourite author Faulkner. Undoubtedly, his character mimics that of Vardaman Bundren in Faulkner’s , who is a silent observer but isn’t either bright enough or capable enough to protest against all the wrongdoings he has been a witness.
There's a whole rabbit hole hollowed out for us to follow the characters down, developing curiosity by rapidly shifting the specifics around our protagonist but refusing to relieve the tension of not understanding; he denies him, and us, the luxury of answers, dragging him from question to question with a jerk.
Each riddle elicits his perplexed replies or frantic deeds. He's not sure if the cat he's been feeding is real or not. He's not sure if he's been hanging out with two friends or third-wheeling a couple. He has no idea where he fits in this scenario, due to a man with just enough resources to tell any story he wants and a woman who is growing past requiring him at all.
“I don’t know who I am, and who I’m not, I don’t know who I’m supposed to be, and I miss who I was; I miss it every day, Kate, but there’s no place for that August anymore. No place for the version of me who wanted to go to school, and have a life, and feel human, because this world doesn’t need that August. It needs someone else.”
― Victoria Schwab,
Murakami doesn't give us any answers to the questions in the story, at all. It kind of mimics what he usually does in his longer works like Kafka On The Shore. The narrator approaches the mysteries he’s confronted with as if they are not his to give, personal information and secrets just out of reach. It's a story recounted through his eyes about others, a story made inaccessible to him by the irritation of the class divide, which manifests as his sentiments of ownership over a lady he cares about.
You may as well question the portrayal of women in this story, but for me, it’s one of the few self-conscious portrayals that Murakami has ever managed to do. Hae-mi is a piece of the narrator’s story, not hers (or, worse, someone else in whose story he plays a supporting role).
The story paints a chilling depiction of the power structures that trap men and turn them rotten — or, more accurately, those that bring men's inner moral bankruptcy to the surface — when the stories they become accustomed to telling about money, women, power, and themselves are no longer under their control. Of course, if you think of it, the story necessitates a character who can be objectified, and what do you think someone like Murakami would use to showcase the psychological degradation of a frustrated, heterosexual male?
So much for a short story, and I haven't disclosed anything about the story that I could've helped. To be honest, it's a cumulative opinion that's affected by the movie as well, but notwithstanding that matter, all in all, a must-read. Or you can as well watch the movie in this case. Lee Chang-dong’s adaptation is an outstanding and well-replenished version of this story, vaguely similar to the plot, but undivided in the essence. Of course, the story also seems to be heavily inspired by Faulkner’s tale of the same name, but I haven’t read that yet but look forward to it.
“Then it was that the thought of death burst into my daily life. I would measure the years separating me from my end. I would look for examples of men of my age who were already dead. And I was tormented by the thought that I might not have time to accomplish my task. What task? I had no idea. Frankly, was what I was doing worth continuing?”
-Albert Camus,
“There was something about his wolflike independence and even courage when the advantage was at least neutral which impressed strangers, as if they got from his latent ravening ferocity not so much a sense of dependability as a feeling that his ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions would be of advantage to all whose interest lay with his.”
-William Faulkner,
I don’t know whether it is because of the Lee Chang-dong adaptation, or the fact that this story bears a resemblance to Murakami’s best lengthier works, yet remains effective as a much shorter, and compact version; it is one of my favourites. I wanted to go into a detailed analysis here but then decided against it, because it isn’t a very popular Murakami story as far as I can see here on 欧宝娱乐, and also because it’s, well, short.
The riddles in this story torment the reader with several questions (as does the film), but for justifiable, gravitating reasons. It's a winding road about the stories men tell themselves concerning women and other men, and also how our inaction exacerbates these stories. As intriguing as exhilarating, the plot revolves around a shackled author who, for the first time in this archetype's history, does not feel like a conscience of his competent creators.
The narrator here reluctantly, and maybe inadvertently, draws us along for a journey about what happens whenever a man no longer has control over his own and other people's tales. And therein he states his favourite author Faulkner. Undoubtedly, his character mimics that of Vardaman Bundren in Faulkner’s , who is a silent observer but isn’t either bright enough or capable enough to protest against all the wrongdoings he has been a witness.
There's a whole rabbit hole hollowed out for us to follow the characters down, developing curiosity by rapidly shifting the specifics around our protagonist but refusing to relieve the tension of not understanding; he denies him, and us, the luxury of answers, dragging him from question to question with a jerk.
Each riddle elicits his perplexed replies or frantic deeds. He's not sure if the cat he's been feeding is real or not. He's not sure if he's been hanging out with two friends or third-wheeling a couple. He has no idea where he fits in this scenario, due to a man with just enough resources to tell any story he wants and a woman who is growing past requiring him at all.
“I don’t know who I am, and who I’m not, I don’t know who I’m supposed to be, and I miss who I was; I miss it every day, Kate, but there’s no place for that August anymore. No place for the version of me who wanted to go to school, and have a life, and feel human, because this world doesn’t need that August. It needs someone else.”
― Victoria Schwab,
Murakami doesn't give us any answers to the questions in the story, at all. It kind of mimics what he usually does in his longer works like Kafka On The Shore. The narrator approaches the mysteries he’s confronted with as if they are not his to give, personal information and secrets just out of reach. It's a story recounted through his eyes about others, a story made inaccessible to him by the irritation of the class divide, which manifests as his sentiments of ownership over a lady he cares about.
You may as well question the portrayal of women in this story, but for me, it’s one of the few self-conscious portrayals that Murakami has ever managed to do. Hae-mi is a piece of the narrator’s story, not hers (or, worse, someone else in whose story he plays a supporting role).
The story paints a chilling depiction of the power structures that trap men and turn them rotten — or, more accurately, those that bring men's inner moral bankruptcy to the surface — when the stories they become accustomed to telling about money, women, power, and themselves are no longer under their control. Of course, if you think of it, the story necessitates a character who can be objectified, and what do you think someone like Murakami would use to showcase the psychological degradation of a frustrated, heterosexual male?
So much for a short story, and I haven't disclosed anything about the story that I could've helped. To be honest, it's a cumulative opinion that's affected by the movie as well, but notwithstanding that matter, all in all, a must-read. Or you can as well watch the movie in this case. Lee Chang-dong’s adaptation is an outstanding and well-replenished version of this story, vaguely similar to the plot, but undivided in the essence. Of course, the story also seems to be heavily inspired by Faulkner’s tale of the same name, but I haven’t read that yet but look forward to it.
“Then it was that the thought of death burst into my daily life. I would measure the years separating me from my end. I would look for examples of men of my age who were already dead. And I was tormented by the thought that I might not have time to accomplish my task. What task? I had no idea. Frankly, was what I was doing worth continuing?”
-Albert Camus,
March 19, 2018
?? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???????.
March 17, 2024
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June 6, 2020
I love the movie so much so I Had to read this short story of Murakami. Probably an autobiographical one. This story is very ?ood, ispirational for an Amazing movie. This story is 20 pages long, the adaptation is 3 Hours. The movie is great! One of the best I Have seen in the last years. The story is shorter and simpler but it has many elements present in the movie. Everything burns inside and outside the protagonist. Jelaousy, anger, passion and The loss of meaning are Just a few things that burns over and over again. Everything burns except the barns in this story. That is very food even if the movie is better and more complete in my opinion. In the story the protagonist has a wife and the author is also a runner in the Real Life. This two things helps and save him from despair. The movie is far more pessimist and nihilist, the protagonist has no anchor or lifeline, he is competely lonely and powerless. Running is not cathartic, writing neither. The mime metaphor is just perfect. "What you do isn't make yourself believe that there are tangerines there. You forget that the tangerines are not there. That's all."
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