When he finds out what has happened, Oedipus blinds himself in anguish. Unwittingly, Oedipus fulfills the prophecy. In the myth, Oedipus receives a prophecy from the oracle at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Kafka on the Shore also draws heavily on the ancient Greek tragic myth of Oedipus, immortalized in dramatic form by Sophocles in his play, Oedipus Rex. Kafka on the Shore has also drawn much comparison to Murakami’s other long surrealist works, including The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Like Murakami, much of Kafka’s work, such as his short story “The Metamorphosis,” blends unsettling fantastical elements with realism to portray isolated characters dealing with the absurdity of modern life. At the same time, Murakami has also been criticized within Japan for his unconventional style, which draws inspiration from European writers including Kurt Vonnegut and the Czech novelist Franz Kafka. I-Novels typically use a first-person, confessional style, often to take on extremely dark and personal subject matter. Kafka on the Shore is one of many works by Murakami written in the style of the traditional Japanese “I-Novel,” which emerged in the early twentieth century.

Murakami employs a distinct form of magical realism that blends elements of the Japanese literary tradition with foreign influences.

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