OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award - Book Research (Norwegian Wood)

NORWEGIAN WOOD:

The book, Norwegian Wood, is set in late 1960's Tokyo when Japanese students were protesting against the established order, which serves as a backdrop to the story and focuses on the main character, Toru Watanabe, looking back on his days as a university student. The story touches on elements of mental health, death and loss, as well as sex and relationships. Whilst reading the book, key and interesting elements were noted down, alongside brief initial design ideas which came from this reading.

Interesting and key elements of the book:

'The meadow, washed clean of summer's dust by days of gentle rain, the mountains wore a deep, brilliant green, fronds of head-high grasses swaying, one long streak of cloud hung pasted across a dome of frozen blue'...'We saw only two bright red birds leap startled from the centre of the meadow and dart into the woods'.

Naoko's camel hair coat.

- attached to trees in the woods, blowing in the wind in the meadow.

Naoko's description of the well (pg.5)

Pine Forest.

'It takes time, though, for Naoko's face to appear. And as the years have passed, the time has grown longer. Like shadows lengthening at dusk'... 'Shadows swallowed up in darkness'.

Flag of the rising sun.

- look at the political aspect of the book, the raising of the flag at the dormitory each morning, protest, propaganda materials.

- back cover idea - have the text typeset into a circle to represent the rising sun flag and the political background aspect of the story.

- front cover idea - use a circle to represent the rising sun flag, within the circle place a scene of the meadow or forest that Naoko and Watanabe walk through, outside the circle have imagery of two red birds as if 'leaping into the meadow' described by Watanabe at the start of the book.

Ami Hostel (Naoko's sanatorium) situated in the woodlands of the mountains.

100 yen in a jar every time Naoko requests Reiko to play 'Norwegian Wood' on guitar.

- place a scene of the meadow, woodlands or sanatorium in a glass jar to symbolise the bottled feelings of both Naoko and Watanabe, to symbolise the mental health aspects of the book.

Naoko and Reiko's yellow raincapes.

Naoko's blue nightdress - 'Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life'.

- blue nightdress hanging by rope in the trees of the forest outside the sanatorium, represent Naoko's death and her lingering memories (from Watanabe).