SOURCE: “Yearlong Paranoia Binge,” in Spectator, June 20, 1998, pp. 35–36.

In the following mixed review, Hiney describes the postmodern method and themes of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as praiseworthy but lacking spirit.

The themes of this big novel [The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle]—paranoia, sterility, general loss of national confidence—are clearly ones that are striking at the heart of contemporary Japan. Few developed cultures currently show such a determined lack of interest in procreating. The birth rate is at its lowest since 1899, and the population—as in several European countries—is shrinking. While this is clearly good news in the long run (population growth equalling traffic jams) it has also damaged national self-respect. Too many people live in dirty cities, where too much stress, insecurity and pollution render many of them effectively impotent—how patriotic can you be in such circumstances? In India two years ago I read a newspaper...