This contribution presents a multidisciplinary and cross-boundary analysis of the transmedial connections between Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (1987) and its homonymous Beatles classic. Grounded in a performative intermedial analysis (Pantano, 2023), it investigates the articulation between lyrics and music in the Beatles’ song and how its verbal and sonic elements resonate throughout Murakami’s novel—through structural analogies, verbal music (Scher, 1970), and intra- and extra-compositional intermediality (Wolf, 2002). The novel’s opening scene, where the protagonist hears an orchestral cover of “Norwegian Wood,” ignites a journey into selfhood (Womack, 2019), mirroring his inner turmoil. The Beatles’ lyrics are reflected in the dynamic, sexual, and emotional transitions experienced by Toru as he reaches adulthood, in stark contrast with his best friend Kizuki, who inexplicably committed suicide without undergoing such transformation (Cruz, 2019), unfolding a narrative of the self—a process instrumental in the construction of selfhood (Bruner, 1986, 1990). Murakami’s fiction transliterates musical genres—jazz, pop-rock, classical—into prose, enacting a form of translation that, alongside linguistic mediation, renders his work globally resonant (Auster, 2007). His narrative style, described as “magical realism,” bridges East and West, the conscious and the unconscious (Strecher, 2002), capturing the spirit of the 1960s–70s generation while anticipating our globalised and transcultural age (Juen, 2017). Framed by the idea of “everyday cosmopolitanism” (Wakatsuki, 2018), this contribution advances a model of global citizenship, guiding the reader into a labyrinth of references that constitute “obligatory and optional intertextualities” (Fitzsimmons, 2013), explored through musical and literary modes of analysis.

Authors:
Giuseppe Pantano, Université de Lorraine, France

About the Presenter(s)
Giuseppe Pantano, tenured music teacher and joint PhD candidate (UL–Roma Tre), explores music–literature intermediality. Educated in Italy and Norway, he is author of a monograph and winner of Italy’s national teaching competition (2020).

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppe-pantanocreazzo/

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