The death of the author
This isn't about the literary theory.
Recently, I read through Berserk. It's had quite the influence on games and other media, so I felt a certain obligation. Surprisingly, despite its often brutal subject matter, it's pretty thought-provoking.
The series was written over the course of Miura Kentarō's life. He made sketches of the protagonist as early as 1985. He completed the first narrative arc in 1997. And in 2021, the last chapters he wrote were published a few months after his death.
Despite laboring for three decades, Miura never finished his story.
A life's work
When I started reading, I didn't realize any of this. I thought he died a long time ago. It's an easy enough mistake to make since it's been around for so long.
The first 150 chapters or so were written in the 1990s. The art was a little less refined. In places, the style was reminiscent of a few trends at the time. The story was brutal and poignant. It was Miura at his most provocative.
As time went on, the brutality began to soften. He introduced more comic relief. The protagonist came to realize how precious his relationships were and started depending on others. As Miura changed, so did Berserk. 1
Berserk is dripping in tension. Yet, near the end, the most tense experience I had was wondering whether Miura had gotten to the part I cared about before his death.
I don't usually experience this kind of extra-narrative tension. Most things you can consume already exist in their entirety: old movies, game series, books -- even TV shows are released all at once these days. And even if a story is incomplete, I can take some comfort in knowing that someday, probably, the original creator will triumphantly return and provide me the resolution I crave.
But not here. As I reached Miura's last panel, it didn't seem real. It felt like I could just pull out the next volume as I did the other 40. Even now the characters swirl in my mind, ready to embark on the next leg of their journey that will never come. 2
In a way, Berserk's untimely ending is as powerful as anything Miura could have written himself.
Miura laid out the story back in the '90s, so his aging likely didn't change the big things.
↩The series will continue under another author, and while I respect their effort, I can't engage with it in the same way.
↩