Young Kafka flees home, haunted by his father’s ominous prophecy. His journey morphs into a dreamlike reality where the lines between sleep and waking blur. In this world, talking cats, rains of fish, and the enigmatic librarian Saeki become guides to Kafka’s subconscious, with dreams acting as portals to an “other world” where he can confront himself. This is the perspective on Haruki Murakami’s novel Kafka on the Shore offered by researchers Adrian Clark Perez and Laarni Perez from the Philippines.
This “other world” in Murakami’s work isn’t just a space for fantasy but a reflection of the characters’ psyches. In this world, they come face-to-face with their fears, desires, and traumas in lucid dreams and liminal states. It’s like dream therapy, where they can live through and process things that feel impossible in reality. This is especially crucial for Kafka, who encounters his alter ego in the “other world”—an inner advisor who helps him understand himself.
Each character has their own gateway into this dream world. Some stumble into it by chance, experiencing trauma, like old man Nakata, who can talk to cats. Others, like Saeki, seek refuge from the pain of loss. Still others, like Kafka, arrive at a dream-world consciousness through self-analysis and accepting responsibility for their lives. The specific techniques used by lucid dreamers aren’t shown in detail; instead, the characters’ journeys into the “other world” represent a symbolic process of psychological transformation.
Have you read the book? Do the practices described in it resemble actual lucid dreaming practices?
The article was published in March 2025 in Puissant.
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