Pre-objective reality and the end of the world

Abstract

Abstract In Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, Haruki Murakami plays with the quantum idea of the Many Worlds theory, creating two universes that exist in a state of parallelism – one consisting of the main character’s objective/subjective reality, the other being a pre-objective reality that resides within the character’s inaccessible subconscious mind. These universes are linked within the purely objective, surreal world of the novel by a series of indexical signs and symbols that point the reader back and forth between the worlds, indicating that they are linked by certain shared subjectivities. What follows here is an exploration of how Murakami’s novel works from a semiotic point of view.