Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Murakami's sketching out of the character Noboru Wataya in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994) is uncannily similar to how I would describe the false dazzling of Jordan Peterson today and his narcissistic use of arguments to elevate his own image as a master of "taking down" his opponent, appear as an authority on a wide breadth of subjects, and ultimately invite harmful adoptions of his rhetoric in the service of propagating his popularity. 

Murakami describes this academic sleight of hand so aptly, the worshipping born from a sense of confusion-turned-awe. It also reminded me of the themes of debate and speed in Ben Lerner's The Topeka School.