Piotr Pietrzak and Joseph Thomas Milburn

In Statu Nascendi is a peer-reviewed journal that aspires to be a world-class scholarly platform encompassing original academic research dedicated to the circle of Political Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Theory of International Relations, Foreign Policy, and the political Decision-making process. The journal investigates specific issues through a socio-cultural, philosophical, and anthropological approach to raise a new type of civic awareness about the complexity of contemporary crisis, instability, and warfare situations, where the “stage-of-becoming” plays a vital role. Issue 2022:1 focuses on the novels of Haruki Murakami. Haruki Murakami: What is the relation between philosophy and an acclaimed Japanese literary writer? Murakami himself has been reluctant to expound on any deeper meaning to be found in his stories. The answer can be found in the great interest in and diverse engagement of readers with Murakami’s work. In a truly global sense, readers have sensed such a depth in Murakami. Whether it is psychoanalytical, sociological, mythological, or political, readers are motivated to extend Murakami’s texts: to think about and work with them long after their initial reading. The objective of this special issue of ISN is to explore this depth to Murakami’s work from an interdisciplinary perspective in order to present novel arguments to the growing research community. It is posited that there is something tangible that can be brought to the surface through the critical approaches of the contributors in this issue; broadly speaking, this tangibility can be considered philosophical; that there is some kind of conceptual material at the core of Murakami’s work, or that his work is congenial to conceptual activity, which is relevant to readers who have a general interest in the humanities and social sciences, and of course, in Murakami studies in particular. The special issue of ISN will include pieces from renowned Murakami scholars who are working with his texts in different ways; topics include cosmopolitanism, intertextuality, gender, ethics, the divine, representations of the family, the other world, and the creative process of writing itself. Introductions to the most recent publications on Murakami in the English-language (2019-2022) by the authors will also be featured. Finally, it is hoped that this special issue on Murakami will increase philosophical and interdisciplinary participation with his work; it may be the case that a few budding divers will become interested in the critical activities presented in the articles, ready to hold their breath and dive into a Murakami-world.

JOSEPH THOMAS MILBURN, Ph.D., currently serves as a Philosophy and English Lecturer at Rochester Independent College (since 2023). Before taking on this role, he was a Full-time Tutor at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals - KFUPM from 2021 to 2023. Joseph holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridiski," an MA in Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies from the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, and a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Philosophy from Newcastle University.

PIOTR PIETRZAK, Ph.D., is a co-founder and an editor-in-chief of *In Statu Nascendi – Journal of Political Philosophy and International Relations, a non-profit charitable organization based in Sofia, Bulgaria. He holds a Ph.D. Degree in Philosophy from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridiski (2021), a master’s degree in International Politics & International Relations from the University of Manchester (2013), and a Master’s Degree in Politics from the University of Warmia and Mazury (2008). He was awarded an Erasmus Scholarship to the University of Cyprus in 2007 .