Subjectivity.

Image courtesy of beckybedbug.com. Would have used a picture of my own copy but I don't have it on me at the moment.

Several years ago, I read this novel called 1Q84 by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami. It was a very thick book of over a thousand pages and cost quite a bit, but there was something about it that made me curious enough to want to actually spend money on it (probably using some book vouchers, can't quite remember) and then read it from end to end.

One of the reviews cited on the book's cover called it "a work of maddening brilliance", and I was eager to find out why that was so. To be fair to the novel, I did find it rather intriguing, and I quickly sped through it. Not quite as quickly as I did the last three Harry Potter books, but quickly enough.

Oh, it was "maddening", alright.

Upon finishing it, I found myself in a state of frustration and deep dissatisfaction, wondering how on earth a book that left so many questions unanswered (and not even in a good way - there's leaving your reader to speculate and there's leaving your reader hanging) could in any way be considered to be a work of brilliance. Linguistically, maybe, but good language is the minimum you would expect from a renowned author.

After ranting to my roommate at the time about the book, I put it away and haven't really thought about it again since. Until today, that is, when I finished the last book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Similar to 1Q84, it had an ending which I felt was quite unsatisfactory, though in this case it wasn't because there was a multitude of important questions left unanswered, but instead because the story felt as if it'd ended far too abruptly and should have gone on for maybe half a book longer.

I was then prompted to check out some reviews of 1Q84 on Goodreads. The first reviewer absolutely loved it, and crowed on about... well I don't remember really, but I remember that it made sense. It was about looking at the novel as a piece of art and viewing the big picture behind it. What I understood, mainly, was that the plot of a novel was just a component of its artistry, and not the entirety.

Personally, though, I've always felt that the most important thing about a novel was the story, and I'm clearly not the only one. I read a few (very) negative reviews and found myself agreeing with the points raised.

So the question is: Is a novel, first and foremost, a story or a work of art? I suppose there is no right or wrong answer, and it all depends on you and what you care about. Different people appreciate different things, and to different degrees.

I watched the latest Star Wars film with a few friends about a couple of months ago. One absolutely loved it, while another absolutely did not. I was more in the middle - I enjoyed it, though I did admit it was heavily flawed. Three people watched the same movie, yet all three had different opinions about it. (There was a fourth guy with us, but he had nothing to say about the film at all.)

That's the thing about art, and pretty much any abstract concept: it's subjective. There are some things that just can't be nailed down to concrete rules. Art represents diversity - the diversity of opinion. Different people like different things. Different people think in different ways.

One of the major issues with the world we live in is that people can't seem to respect diversity. That's where racism, sexism, and any other negative -ism you can think of come from. If people can't respect diversity in things that are objective (race, gender, etc.), is it really any wonder that they also have a problem respecting diversity in things that are rather more subjective? Is it any surprise that people have difficulty in agreeing to disagree?

(Yes, I do admit that sometimes there are opinions that are just plain wrong. I'm referring to situations where diversity of opinion shouldn't lead to verbal abuse and even physical violence, but somehow sometimes do. You know what I'm talking about.)

So how do we fix this? Does teaching people to respect objective diversity automatically teach them to respect subjective diversity or vice versa? Does one really even affect the other? Who knows. Maybe someone should do a study on that. Maybe someone already has.

I wonder if giving art more importance will help. Back in school, I hated studying it, as I never really had the talent for painting or drawing or crafting anything that vaguely resembled anything. But what if art was more than just making pretty pictures? What if kids in school learned more about appreciating and interpreting art instead of simply producing it? It would certainly make the subject more interesting, as well as helping to develop thinking skills.

In conclusion:

• Art = Subjectivity
• Subjectivity = Important
• Art = Important

This started as a rant about 1Q84, but ended with me... realizing stuff. I guess that's what art can do to a guy. Well played, Murakami. Well played.

I should really read more novels.