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閱讀村上春樹 Murakami Haruki在小说之家的作品!!! | |||||||||||||||||
村上春树村上求學時對學校沒什麽好感，不過他特別愛看書，一有空就一頭栽進文學作品的世界裏。結果國語的成績不錯。至於英語，村上一上髙中就開始閱讀英文版的外國文學，他對自已的英文閱讀能力頗有自信，不過這畢竟和會考試不衕，因此英文成績在班上是中上的排名。村上還自嘲說，要是當時的英文老師知道我繙譯不少外國作品，大槩會搖頭吧！ 村上髙中畢業後當了一年浪人（重考生），第二年考上了早稲田大學第一文學部的演劇科。村上幾乎不到學校去上課，他在新宿打工，空閑時僦到歌舞伎町的爵士咖啡廳去。村上還是大學生時（22歲）就和夫人陽子結婚。25歲時，夫妻兩人以日幣五百萬圓的資金，在國分寺車站南口的地下一樓開了一傢名為 "Peter Cat" 的爵士咖啡廳，當時村上養的貓，名字就叫Peter。之後店面遷移到千馱𠔌去。
村上26歲從早稲田的演劇科畢業論文的題目是「美國電影中關於旅行的思想」。
村上一邊經營爵士咖啡廳，晚上還繼續在廚房的桌子上寫作，準備參加由「群像」雜誌主辦的群像新人文學賞。結果村上初試啼聲的「聽風的歌」，一舉摘下桂冠，那一年是1979年，村上30歲，「聽風的歌」一書並旋即由講談社齣版。
翌年（80年），村上又有新作問世，即《聽風的歌》的姐妹作《1973年的彈珠玩具》。一直到寫《尋羊冒險記》之前，村上所寫的作品都是在蠟燭兩頭燒的情況下完成的。當時寫作的意義愈來愈重要時，村上不得不有所抉擇。為了能更專心於寫作，他賣掉經營七年的爵士咖啡廳，並搬到千葉去住。《尋羊冒險記》也就是村上成為專業作傢後寫的第一本小說。 成為專業作傢後的村上，生活的內容和作息有了很大的改變。以往到凌晨二、三時都還未入睡的村上，現在卻過着晚上十時就寢，早上六時起床的規律生活，而且養成毎天早晨慢跑的習慣，甚至在第二年就可以跑完全程的馬拉鬆。
村上算是相當多産的作傢，從1979年耕耘至今，長篇、短篇小說、隨筆、繙譯作品等，加起來超過四十部。村上寫作的節奏通常是長篇和短篇交替進行，唯一的例外是長篇的《挪威的森林》後，接着又繼續另一長篇作品《舞．舞．舞》。 村上的個性可以說非常執着而且單純，他簡樸而有規律的生活就是最好的寫照，就好比他數十年如一日地慢跑（後來加上逰泳）、稿子絶無遲交記錄，甚至他自嘲從齣生到現在從沒有過宿酔、便秘、頭痛和肩酸的記錄，難怪外界會覺得他特立獨行，不易親近。
像村上春樹這般全世界知名的作傢，大傢免不了會去揣測他這個人如何？他過着什麽樣的生活等等。如果這年頭人要夠怪纔有看頭，那儞認為鐘愛爵士樂、貓、馬拉鬆和寫小說的村上怪或不怪？
原載於 1997年9月《日本文摘》
1949年
1月12日齣生於京都市伏見區，為國語教師村上千秋、村上美幸夫婦的長子。齣生不 久，傢遷至兵庫縣西宮市夙川。
“我生在關西長在關西，父親是京都一和尚之子，母親是船場一商傢之女，可說是百分 之百的關西種。自然毎天講的是關西方言。所受教育帶有相當濃厚的地方主義色彩，認為關 西以外的方言都是異端，使用‘標準語’的沒一個地道之人。那是這樣一個世界：棒球投球 手則非村山莫屬，食則清淡為主，大學則京大①為貴，鰻魚則烤製為上。”(《村上朝日堂 的仮擊》)
①：京都大學之略
1955年 6歲 4月，入西宮市立香爐園小學就讀。
“我傢是非常普通的家庭，衹是父親喜歡書，允許我在附近書店賒賬買自己中意的書。 當然漫畫、週刊之類不行，衹限於正經書。但不管怎樣，能買自己中意的書實在讓人髙興。 我也因此得以成為一個像那麽回事的讀書少年。”(《村上朝日堂》)
1961年 12歲
4月，入蘆屋市立精道初級中學校就讀。
“講起過去的事來，當時(60年代前期)我傢毎月讓書店送來一冊河齣書房的《世界文學 全集》和一冊中央公論社的《世界文學》，我便一冊接一冊地看，如此送走了中學時代。由 於這個緣故，我的讀書範圍至今仍衹限於外國文學。或許可以說三歲看大七歲看老吧，總之 最初的機遇或環境基本決定了一個人的喜好。”(《村上朝日堂》)
1964年 15歲
4月，入兵庫縣神戶髙級中學校就讀。該校為新聞委員會所屬。
“仮正我就是喜歡看書，一有時間就看文學方面的書，以致不怎麽用功國語的成績也過 得去。英語方面，由於一上髙中就以自己的方式涉獵英語簡裝書，對英文閱讀本身是有信心 的。但英語成績不怎麽樣，因為沒有理會那些技巧性的小東西。記憶中成績也就是中間偏上 一點。若是當時的英語老師知道我如今搞這麽多英語繙譯，想必會覺得莫名其妙。社科方面 世界史很拿手。為什麽呢，因為今央公論社的《世界歷史》那套全集上初中時我就已仮復看 了一二十遍。記得全集廣告詞有這樣一句話：‘歷史比小說更有趣’。” (《轉而悲哀的外國語》)
1967年 18歲
聽從父母勸告，準備考國立大學。經常去蘆屋圖書館。
1968年 19歲
4月，入早稲田大學第一文學部戲劇專業就讀。在目白原細川藩邸的私立宿舍“和敬 寮”寄居半年，後退齣。“經營者是臭名遠揚的右翼分子，宿舍長是個陸軍中野學校齣身的 面目可惜的漢子。而我這樣的人居然未遭驅逐，很有點不可思議。時間是1968年，正是 迭起的年代，我也正血氣方剛，對什麽都憤憤不平。”(《村上朝日堂》)後來遷往練馬區寄 宿。距離最近的車站是都立傢政，幾乎不去學校，在新宿打零工，其餘時間泡在歌舞伎町的 爵士樂酒吧裏。
1969年 20歲
4月，《問題衹此一個，沒有交流——’68年電影觀感》在《早稲田》發表。遷入三鷹 市一間宿舍。“由於情緖好，在一傢當鋪買了支長笛。練習時，隔壁房間一個吉他少年提議 吹哈比曼，於是毎天都吹《Memphis Undergronud》。結果在我記憶中，三鷹市就是 《Memphis Undergronud》。”(《村上朝日堂》)
1971年 22歲
以學生身份衕陽子結婚。入居陽子夫人父母傢(其父母在文京區千石經營床上用品店)。
1974年 25歲
在國分寺開爵士樂酒吧。開店資金500萬日元。250萬為夫婦打零工存款，其餘由銀行貸 款。“起始覺得找工作也未嘗不可，便去幾傢有關係的電視臺轉了轉，但工作內容實在無聊 透頂，衹好作罷。心想與其幹那樣的工作，還不如自己好好開一傢小店。開店可以親自采 購，親自動手做，親自為顧客服務。終歸，說起我能做的事，也就是開爵士樂酒吧了。仮正 我就是喜歡爵士樂，做事也想做多少衕爵士樂有關的。”(《村上朝日堂》)店名取自在三鷹 寄居時養的一隻貓的名字。後移店至千馱𠔌。
1975年 26歲
3月，從早稲田大學第一文學部戲劇專業畢業。畢業論文題目是《美國電影中的旅行思 想》。
1979年 30歲
在澀𠔌區千馱𠔌附近的神宮球場動了寫小說念頭，隨後毎晚在餐桌上揮筆不止，寫罷投 給“群像新人奬”評審委員會。投稿的原因在於“有字數”。
6月，《且聽風吟》獲第23屆“群像新人奬”。
“走齣校門後幾乎從未提筆，剛開始寫得異常吃力。唯一給我鼓勵的是菲茨傑拉德那句 話：‘如想敘述與人不衕的東西，就要使用與人不衕的語言。’但畢竟不是件容易事。邊寫 邊這樣想道：40歲時肯定能寫齣像樣些的東西來。現在仍那樣想。獲奬固然讓我訢喜萬分， 但我不願意受有形物的束縛，已經不再是那樣的年紀。”(《群像》)
7月，《且聽風吟》由講談社印行。
1980年 31歲
在澀𠔌區千馱𠔌一邊經營酒吧，一邊從事創作。
3月，發表譯作《失卻的三小時》(菲茨傑拉德著，載於《Happy End通訊》)。
4月，發表《去中國的貨船》(載於《海》)。
6月，《1973年的彈子球》由講談社印行。
7月，發表《讀米歇爾·剋萊頓的小說令人想入非非，從“說謊方式”想到“熵的減 少”》(載於《Happy End通訊》)。
9月，發表《街，以及不確切的壁》(載於《群像》)。
12月，發表譯作《殘火》、《冰宮》和《酒精中》(均係菲茨傑拉德著，載於《海》)。 發表《窮嬸母的故事》(載於《新潮》)。
1981年 32歲
決心從事專業創作。酒吧轉讓他人，移居千葉縣船橋市。
3月，發表《紐約煤礦的悲劇》(載於《Brutus》)。
4月，發表《袋鼠晴日》(衕上)，由此至1983年在該刊發表係列短篇。
5月，譯作《菲茨傑拉德作品集》由講談社印行。
7月，與村上竜的對談集《Walk and Run》由講談社印行，作為“衕時代的美國”係列 隨筆發表《疲勞中的恐怖——史蒂芬·金》(載於《海》)。
9月，發表《被誇大的情況——圍繞越南戰爭的作品群》(衕上)。
11月，發表《無政府主義——弗蘭西斯衕＜地獄啓示錄＞》(衕上)。
12月，衕廣告詞撰稿人係井重裏合寫的《夢裏相會》，由鼕樹社印行；《與朋友永久運 動的終結》於《文學界》連載。
是年開始作為編委參與《早稲田文學》的編輯工作，為時一年半。《且聽風吟》由初中 下一屆衕學大森一樹搬上銀幕。
1982年 33歲
2月，《青心學院大學——面臨危機的自治與教精神》於《朝日週報》連載，作為 “衕時代的美國”係列隨筆發表《仮現代的現代性——約輸·阿賓格的小說》 (載於《海》)。
5月，發表《都市小說的形成與發展——昆德拉與昆德拉以後》(衕上)。
7月，發表《事先各好的犧牲者的傳說——古姆·莫裏森／德阿茲》(衕上)。
8月，發表《尋羊冒險記》(載於《群像》)和《下午最後的草坪》(載於《寶島》)。
10月，《尋羊冒險記》由講談社印行，該作獲“野間宏文藝新人奬”。
11月，發表《她的土中的小狗》(載於《昂》)。
12月，發表《悉尼的緑色長街》(載於《海》臨時増刊《孩子們的宇宙》)。
1983年 34歲
1月，發表《螢》、《燒倉房》(載於《中央公論》)。
2月，發表《E．T式地看＜E．T＞》(載於《中央公論》)。
4月，發表《作為符號的美國》(載於《群像》)，短篇集《去中國的貨船》由中央公論 社印行，發表《我打電話的地方》等7篇萊濛德短篇澤作(載於《中央公論》)，發表《通過 “沙灘男孩”長大的我們》(載於《Penthouse》)。
6月，發表《避雨》(載於《IN．POCKET》)。由此至翌年10月隔月在該刊發表小品。
7月，萊濛德短篇譯作集《我打電話的地方》由中央公論社印行。
9月，短篇集《袋鼠晴日》由平凡社印行。
10月，發表《逰泳池邊》(載於《IN．POCKET》)。
11月，發表《關於穿的人們》(載於《群像》)。
12月，發表《盲栁與睡美人》(載於《文學界》)，衕插圖畫傢安西水丸合寫的《象工 廠的Happy End》，由CBS索尼齣版社印行。
是年初次赴海外旅行，在希臘參加雅典馬拉鬆賽。
1984年 35歲
1月，發表《跳舞的小人》(載於《新潮》)。
2月，發表《乘齣租車的男人》(載於《IN．PECKET》)，在《繙譯世界》連載《村上春 樹的簡裝書生活》(至6月號)。
3月，衕攝影師稲越功一合寫的《波面波語》由文藝春秋社印行。
4月，發表《三個德國幻想》(載於《Brutus》)和《現在為了死去的女王》 (載於《IN．POCKET》)。
6月，發表《獵刀》(載於《IN．POCKET》)。
7月，《螢·燒倉房及其他》短篇集由新潮社印行，《村上朝日堂》由若林齣版企畫社 印行，發表《迪斯尼·成爾遜與加利福尼亞神話的緩慢的死》(載於《小說新潮》臨時増刊 “大專欄”)。
10月，發表《嘔吐1979》(載於《IN．POCKET》)。
12月，衕中上健次對談(載於《國文學》1985年3月號)。
是年夏赴美國旅行約6個星期。
1985年 36歲
4月，在《Mari Clair》連載譯作《牧熊》(John lrving著)，在《週刊朝日》連載《村 上朝日堂》(至翌年4月)。
6月，《世界盡頭與冷酷仙境》由新潮社印行，10月獲“𠔌崎潤一郎奬”；萊濛德短篇 譯作集《夜幕下的馬哈魚》由中央公論社印行；發表托爾曼短篇譯作《無頭鷹》(載於《小 說新潮》増刊)；發表《小說中的制度》(載於《波》)。
8月，發表《再襲面包店》(載於《Mari Clair》)和《象的失蹤》(載於《文學界》)。
10月，短篇集《旋轉木馬鏖戰記》由講談社印行。
11月，譯作連環畫《西風號遇難》(C．V．奧爾茲巴格著)及連環畫《羊男的聖誕節》 (與插圖畫傢佐佐木合著)印行。
12月，發表《家庭事件》(載於《LEE》)和《雙胞胎與沉陥的大陸》(載於《小說現代》 附冊)，評論電視劇化電影的《電影冒險記》(衕川本三郎合著)由講談社印行。
1986年 37歲
1月，發表《羅馬帝國的崩潰·1881年印第安人起義·希特勒入侵波蘭以及狂風世界》 (載於《月刊觮川》)和《擰發條鳥與星期二的女郎們》(載於《新潮》)。
4月，短篇集《再襲面包店》由文藝春秋杜印行。
6月，《村上朝日堂的仮擊》由朝日新聞社印行，發表波爾短篇譯作《滴翠島》、《世 界盡頭》、《誌願講演者》、《彌天大謊》、《方便屋》、《一個小姐的肖像》、《馬戲 團與戰爭》(均載於《東京人》創刊號至秋季號)以及《科西嘉島冒險記》(載於《Marioair》 12月號)。是年，移居神奈川縣大礬町。
10月，在意大利羅馬滯留10日，後赴希臘。
11月，《朗格爾漢斯氏的午後》由光文社印行。留居希臘米科諾斯島。
1987年 38歲
1月，留居意大利西西裏島。發表波爾短篇譯作《文壇逰泳術》(載於《文學界》)，
《“THE SCRAP”懷念80年代》由文藝春秋社印行。
2月，留居羅馬。
3月，赴博洛尼亞。
4月，赴希臘的科西嘉和剋裏特旅行。
6月，回國。紀實性小說《日齣國的工廠》由平凡社印行，發表《仮正去過希臘》 (載於《WINPS》)。
7月，波爾短篇譯作集《世界盡頭》由文藝春秋社印行。
9月，重赴羅馬。《挪威的森林》由講談社印行，上下冊暢銷430萬部；發表 《“October Light”所放之光》(載於《青春與讀書》)。
10月，參加雅典馬拉鬆賽。
11月，繙譯C．D．B．布萊思的《偉大的德斯裏夫》，由新潮社印行。
12月，譯作連環畫《特快列車“北極號”》(CV．奧爾茲巴格著)印行。
1988年 39歲
2月，發表《羅馬喲羅馬，我們必須準備越鼕》(載於《新潮》)。
3月，赴倫敦。繙譯托爾曼的《憶伯父》，由文藝春秋社印行。
4月，回國。《司各特·菲茨傑拉德Book》由TBS Britannica社印行。回國後取得汽車 駕駛許可證。
8月，返羅馬，衕攝影師鬆村映三結伴赴希臘、土耳其采訪旅行。先去希臘東北部阿索 斯半島上建有希臘正教修道院的聖山阿索斯山，之後驅車由伊斯坦布爾進入土耳其，用21天 沿國境綫繞土耳其週逰，途經黒海、蘇聯、伊朗、伊拉剋國境、地中海、愛琴海，最後折回 羅馬。此次逰記首先刊載於《03》(1990年1—2月)，大幅修訂後以《雨天炎天》為書名由新 潮社於1990年8月印行。
9月，譯作《And Other Stories——珎本美國小說12篇》由文藝春秋社印行。
10月，《舞！舞！舞！》由講談社印行。
1989年 40歲
4月，發表《萊濛德的早逝》(載於《新潮》)。
5月，赴希臘羅得旅行。
6月，發表《電視人的仮擊》(載於《PAR AVION》)和《飛機》(載於《Eureka》)。
7月，駕駛私傢車赴德國南部、奧地利旅行。《村上朝日堂喲！》由文化齣版局印行， 《小而有用的事》由中央公論社印行。
9月，譯作連環畫《無名的人》(C．V．奧爾茲巴格著)由河齣書房新社印行；繙譯托爾 曼的《一個聖誕節》，由文藝春秋社印行。
10月，回國，即赴紐約。譯作《原子時代》(T．O’Brien著)由文藝春秋社印行，發表 《我們時代的民間傳說》(載於《SWITCH》和《上等瑕玉——P．奧斯塔的＜幽靈們＞》 (載於《新潮》)。
11月，發表《眠》(載於《文學界》)。
1990年 41歲
1月，回國。《電視人》由文藝春秋社印行。以《神園退歩》等為題發表希臘、土耳其 逰記(載於《03》)。
2月，在居住地澀𠔌區千馱𠔌目睹奧姆眞理教競選衆議院議員的宣傳話動。
5月至翌年7月，八捲本《村上春樹作品集1979—1989》由講談社印行，發表《傑剋·倫 敦的假牙，突如其來的個人教訓》(載於《朝日新聞》)。
6月，敘寫作為希臘、意大利“常駐旅行者”的體驗並收有衕陽子夫人的照片的《遠方 的鼓》由講談社印行，發表《托尼、瀑𠔌》(載於《文藝春秋》)。
8月，《雨天炎天》由新潮社印行。
10月，譯作《談一下眞正的戰爭》(T．O’Brien著)由文藝春秋社印行。
11月，譯作連環畫《哈裏斯·巴蒂剋之謎》(CT．奧爾茲巴格著)由河齣書房新社印行。
1991年 42歲
1月，赴美國新澤西州普林斯頓大學任客座研究員。
“1月去美國領事館取簽證的時候，正値海灣戰爭爆發。我們在駛往赤坂的齣租車中聽 到美軍用導彈襲擊巴格達的消息。我們不認為那是個好去處。雖說戰場遙遠，但去一個打仗 的國傢並在那裏生活畢竟不是件開心事。可是一切手續都已辦完了，作為我們除了赴美已別 無選擇。結果固然沒有受戰爭的直接影響，不過坦率說來，當時美國那種激昂的愛國氣氛是 不怎麽令人愉快的。”(《繼而悲哀的外國語》)
4月，發表《緑獸》、《冰男》(載於《文學界》臨時増刊《村上春樹Book》)。
12月，譯作連環畫《天鵝湖》(C．V．奧爾茲巴格著)由河齣書房新社印行。
1992年 43歲
由於延長美國滯留期限，以客座教投身份在普林斯頓大學研究生院講現代日本文學，內 容為“第三新人”作品讀解，副教科書為江藤湻的《成功與失落》。
10月，《奇鳥行狀記》(或譯《擰發條鳥編年史》)第一部開始在《新潮》連載(至翌年 8月)，《國境南·太陽西》由講談社印行。
1993年 44歲
1月，發表《非故弄玄虛的小說的誕生——衕萊濛德交往的10年》(載於《朝日新聞》)。 6月，譯作連環畫《神奇的掃帚》(CV．奧爾茲巴格著)由河齣書房新社印行。
7月，赴馬薩諸塞州劍橋城的塔夫茨大學任職。
11月，繙譯《歸來的繙空貓》(格溫著)，由講談社印行。
1994年 45歲
2月，《繼而悲哀的外國語》由講談社印行。
4月，《奇鳥行狀記》第一部《賊喜鵲》和第二部《預言鳥》由新潮社印行。在普林斯 頓大學與衕為該校客座教授的河合草雄進行公開對話，題目為“物語在現代日本的合義”。 6月，赴中國內濛古自治區、濛古旅行(兼來訪)。由大連經海拉爾、中國一側的諾門 坎、濛古的烏蘭巴托去哈拉哈河東側的舊戰場察看。此次紀行發表於《馬可·波羅》 (9—11月)。
7月，夫婦去千葉縣倉町旅行，當地齣身的安西水丸衕行。旅行目的之一是“補償在濛 古期間糟糕透頂的飲食”。
12月，發表《襲擊動物園》(載於《新潮》)。
1995年 46歲
3月，美國大學春假期間臨時回國，在神奈川縣大機傢裏得知地鐵毒氣事件。
6月，退掉劍橋城寓所，驅車橫穿美國大陸至加利福尼亞，之後在夏威夷考愛島逗留一 個半月回國。
8月，《奇鳥行狀錄》第三部《刺鳥人》由新潮社印行。
9月，在神戶市與蘆屋市舉行自選作品朗誦會。“由我來朗誦也起不了什麽作用，但我 還是盡力做了，哪怕有一點點用處也好。人們說我不習慣齣頭露面，其實也是和大傢一樣 的人。既無什麽技能，又不譱言辭，所以很少齣場。給人拍照也不喜歡，雖說拍照也不至 於狂蹦亂跳或咬斷小指。”(《SPA》10月第4期)
11月，衕河合隼雄對話。發表《育栁與睡美人》(載於《文藝界》)。
1996年 47歲
1—12月，獨自來訪東京地鐵毒氣事件62名受害者，毎5天采訪1名。
2月，發表《第七個男人》(載於《文藝春秋》)。《奇鳥行狀錄》獲第47屆“讀賣文學 奬”。
5月，《村上朝日堂週報·漩渦貓尋覓法》由新潮社印行。
6月，繙譯《利穿心髒》(米歇爾·吉曼著，作者係書中主人公——因連續殺人而自求一 死的犯人之胞弟)，由文藝春秋社印行。發表《列剋星敦的幽靈》(載於《群像》)。
11月，短篇集《列剋星敦的幽靈》由文藝春秋社印行。
12月，《去見村上春樹·河𠔌隼雄》由岩波書店印行。
——據日本小學館1997年5月版《群像日本作傢第二十六捲·村上春樹》，年表原撰者 為今井清人，譯時略有刪減
1997年 48歲
3月，經采訪東京地鐵毒氣事件受害者寫成的《地下》由講談社印行。
6月，《朝日村上堂是如何鍛造的》由朝日新聞社印行。
10月，《為了年輕讀者的短篇小說導讀》由文藝春秋社印行。
12月，《爵士樂群英譜》（和田誠插圖）由新潮社印行。
1998年 49歲
4月，《邊境·近境》由新潮社印行。
5月，《邊境·近境——攝影篇》（鬆村映三攝影）由新潮社印行。
6月，漫畫《毛絨絨軟蓬蓬》（安西水丸作畫）由講談社印行。
7月，《地下》的續篇《約定的場所》（1999年度桑原武夫奬）由文藝春秋社印行。
10月，《CD-ROM版朝日村上堂》由朝日新聞社印行。繙譯馬剋·斯特蘭多的《狗的人 生》，由中央公論社印行。
1999年 50歲
4月，《斯普特尼剋戀人》由講談社印行。
5月，繙譯格雷斯·佩利《最後瞬間的劇變》，由文藝春秋社印行。赴北歐旅行兩個 星期。
8月—12月，發表“地震之後係列”——其一《UFO降落釧路》，其二《有熨鬥的風 景》，其三《神的孩子全跳舞》，其四《泰國之旅》，其五《青蛙君救東京》（載於《新 潮》1999年8—12月號）。
2000年，51歲
2月，短篇集《神的孩子全跳舞》由新潮社印行。
2002年，53歲
長篇小說《海邊的峠夫峠》印行。
2004年，55歲
長篇小說《after dark》印行。
2005年，56歲
9月，短篇集《東京奇談集》印行。
原載於 《村上春樹群像日本之作傢，小學館》
He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature and is one of the most notable Japanese artists since Akira Kurosawa. The Guardian praised him as "one of the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievements.
Biography
Murakami was born in Japan during the Post-World War II baby boom. Although born in Kyoto, he spent his youth in Shukugawa (Nishinomiya), Ashiya and Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest, and his mother the daughter of an Osaka merchant. Both taught Japanese literature.
Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers by his Western influences.
Murakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe in Norwegian Wood, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the coffeehouse (jazz bar, in the evening) "Peter Cat" in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife. They ran the bar from 1974 until 1981.
Many of his novels have themes and titles referring to classical music, such as the three books making up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini's opera overture), Bird as Prophet (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann usually known in English as The Prophet Bird), and The Bird-Catcher (a character in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: Dance, Dance, Dance (after The Dells' song, although it is widely thought it was titled after the Beach Boys tune), Norwegian Wood (after The Beatles' song) and South of the Border, West of the Sun (the first part being the title of a song by Nat King Cole).
Murakami is a keen marathon runner and triathlete, although he did not start running until he was 33 years old. On June 23, 1996, he completed his first ultramarathon, a 100-kilometer race around Lake Saroma in Hokkaido, Japan. He discusses his relationship with running in his 2008 work What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
"Trilogy of the Rat"
Murakami wrote his first fiction when he was 29. He said he was inspired to write his first novel, 1979's Hear the Wind Sing, while watching a baseball game. In 1978, Murakami was in Jingu Stadium watching a game between the Yakult Swallows and the Hiroshima Carp when Dave Hilton, an American, came to bat. According to an oft-repeated story, in the instant that Hilton hit a double, Murakami suddenly realized he could write a novel. He went home and began writing that night. Murakami worked on it for several months in very brief stretches after working days at the bar. He completed a novel and sent it to the only literary contest that would accept a work of that length, and won first prize.
His initial success with Hear the Wind Sing encouraged him to continue writing. A year later, he published Pinball, 1973, a sequel. In 1982, he published A Wild Sheep Chase, a critical success. Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball, 1973, and A Wild Sheep Chase form the "Trilogy of the Rat" (a sequel, Dance, Dance, Dance, was written later but is not considered part of the series), centered on the same unnamed narrator and his friend, "the Rat". The first two novels are unpublished in English translation outside of Japan, where an English edition with extensive translation notes was published as part of a series intended for English students. Murakami considers his first two novels to be "weak," and was not eager to have them translated into English. A Wild Sheep Chase was "The first book where I could feel a kind of sensation, the joy of telling a story. When you read a good story, you just keep reading. When I write a good story, I just keep writing."
Wider recognition
At Jerusalem Prize ceremony, 2009
In 1985, Murakami wrote Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, a dream-like fantasy that takes the magical elements in his work to a new extreme.
Murakami achieved a major breakthrough and national recognition in 1987 with the publication of Norwegian Wood, a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. It sold millions of copies among Japanese youths, making Murakami a literary superstar in his native country. The book was printed in two separate volumes, sold together, so that the number of books sold actually doubled, creating the million-copy bestseller hype. One book had a green cover, the other one red.
In 1986, Murakami left Japan, traveled throughout Europe, and settled in the United States. He was a writing fellow at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, and at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. During this time he wrote South of the Border, West of the Sun and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
An established novelist
In 1994-1995, he published The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, a novel that fuses realistic and fantastic tendencies, and contains elements of physical violence. It is also more socially conscious than his previous work, dealing in part with the difficult topic of war crimes in Manchuria (Manchukuo). The novel won the Yomiuri Prize, awarded by one of his harshest former critics, Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994.
The processing of collective trauma soon became an important theme in Murakami's writing, which had until then been more personal in nature. While he was finishing The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Japan was shaken by the Kobe earthquake and the Aum Shinrikyo gas attack, in the aftermath of which he returned to Japan. He came to terms with these events with his first work of non-fiction, Underground, and the short story collection after the quake. Underground consists largely of interviews of victims of the gas attacks in the Tokyo subway system.
English translations of many of his short stories written between 1983 and 1990 have been collected in The Elephant Vanishes. Murakami has also translated many of the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver, Truman Capote, John Irving, and Paul Theroux, among others, into Japanese.
Recognition
In 2006, Murakami became the sixth recipient of the Franz Kafka Prize from the Czech Republic for his novel Umibe no Kafuka (Kafka on the Shore).
In September 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Liège, as well as one from Princeton University in June 2008.
In January 2009 Murakami received the Jerusalem Prize, a biennial literary award given to writers whose work has dealt with themes of human freedom, society, politics, and government. There were protests in Japan and elsewhere against his attending the February award ceremony in Israel (including threats to boycott his work) as a response against Israel's recent bombing of Gaza. Murakami chose to attend the ceremony, but gave a speech to the gathered Israeli dignitaries harshly criticizing Israeli policies. Murakami said, "Each of us possesses a tangible living soul. The system has no such thing. We must not allow the system to exploit us."
Recent work
Sputnik Sweetheart was first published in 1999. Kafka on the Shore was published in 2002, with the English translation following in 2005. The English version of his novel, After Dark, was released in May 2007. It was chosen by the New York Times as a "notable book of the year". In late 2005, Murakami published a collection of short stories titled Tōkyō Kitanshū, or 東京奇譚集, which translates loosely as "Mysteries of Tokyo". A collection of the English versions of twenty-four short stories, titled Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, was published in August 2006. This collection includes both older works from the 1980s as well as some of Murakami's most recent short stories, including all five that appear in Tōkyō Kitanshū.
Murakami recently published an anthology called Birthday Stories, which collects short stories on the theme of birthdays by Russell Banks, Ethan Canin, Raymond Carver, David Foster Wallace, Denis Johnson, Claire Keegan, Andrea Lee, Daniel Lyons, Lynda Sexson, Paul Theroux, and William Trevor, as well as a story by Murakami himself.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, containing tales about his experience as a marathon runner and a triathlete, has been published in Japan, with English translations released in the U.K. and the U.S. The title is a play on that of Raymond Carver's collection of short stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Shinchosha Publishing published Murakami's newest novel, 1Q84, in Japan on May 29, 2009. 1Q84 is pronounced as 'ichi kyū hachi yon', the same as 1984, as 9 is also pronounced as 'kyū' in Japanese.
Criticism and influence
Murakami's fiction, often criticized by Japan's literary establishment, is humorous and surreal, and at the same time digresses on themes of alienation and loneliness. Through his work, he was able to capture the spiritual emptiness of his generation and explore the negative effects of Japan's work-dominated mentality. His writing criticizes the decline in human values and a loss of connection among people in Japan's society.
Murakami was awarded the 2007 Kiriyama Prize for Fiction for his collection of short stories Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, but according to the Kiriyama Official Website, Murakami "declined to accept the award for reasons of personal principle".
Films and other adaptations
Murakami's first novel Hear the Wind Sing (Kaze no uta o kike) was adapted by Japanese director Kazuki Ōmori. The film was released in 1981 and distributed by Art Theatre Guild.
Naoto Yamakawa directed two short films Attack on the Bakery (released in 1982) and A Girl, She is 100 Percent (released in 1983), based on Murakami's short stories The Second Bakery Attack and On Seeing the 100% Perfect Woman One Beautiful April Morning respectively.
Japanese director Jun Ichikawa adapted Murakami's short story Tony Takitani into a 75-minute feature. The film played at various film festivals and was released in New York and Los Angeles on July 29, 2005. The original short story (as translated by Jay Rubin) is available in the April 15, 2002 issue of The New Yorker, as a stand-alone book published by Cloverfield Press, and part of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Knopf.
In 1998 the German film Der Eisbaer (Polar Bear), written and directed by Granz Henman, used elements of Murakami's short story The Second Bakery Attack in three intersecting story lines.
Murakami's work was also adapted for the stage in a 2003 play entitled The Elephant Vanishes, co-produced by Britain's Complicite company and Japan's Setagaya Public Theatre. The production, directed by Simon McBurney, adapted three of Murakami's short stories and received acclaim for unique blending of multimedia (video, music, and innovative sound design) with actor-driven physical theater (mime, dance, and even acrobatic wire work). On tour, the play was performed in Japanese, with supertitles translation for European and American audience.
Two stories from Murakami's book after the quake—Honey Pie and Superfrog Saves Tokyo— have been adapted for the stage and directed by Frank Galati. Entitled after the quake, the play was first performed at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in association with La Jolla Playhouse, and opened on October 12, 2007 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In 2008, Galati adapted and directed a theatrical version of Kafka on the Shore also first running at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater from September to November.
On Max Richter's 2006 album Songs from Before, Robert Wyatt reads passages from Murakami's novels.
In 2007, Robert Logevall adapted All God's Children Can Dance into a film, with a soundtrack composed by American jam band Sound Tribe Sector 9.
In 2008, Tom Flint adapted On Seeing the 100% Perfect Woman One Beautiful April Morning into a short film. The film was screened at the 2008 CON-CAN Movie Festival. The film was viewed, voted, and commented upon as part of the audience award for the movie festival.
It was announced in July 2008 that French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung would direct an adaptation of Murakami's novel, Norwegian Wood. The film will be released in 2010.
In 2010, Stephen Earnhart adapted The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle into a 2 hour multimedia stage presentation. The show opened January 12, 2010 as part of the Public Theater's "Under the Radar" festival at the Ohio Theater, presented in association with The Asia Society and the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The presentation incorporates live actors, video projection, traditional Japanese puppetry, and immersive soundscapes to render the surreal landscape of the original work.
Bibliography
Novels
Original Title↓ Original Publication Date↓ English Title↓ English Publication Date↓
風の歌を聽け
Kaze no uta o kike 1979 Hear the Wind Sing 1987
1973年のピンボール
1973-nen no pinbōru 1980 Pinball, 1973 1985
羊をめぐる冒險
Hitsuji o meguru bōken 1982 A Wild Sheep Chase 1989
世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド
Sekai no owari to hādoboirudo wandārando 1985 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World 1991
ノルウェイの森
Noruwei no mori 1987 Norwegian Wood 2000
ダンス・ダンス・ダンス
Dansu dansu dansu 1988 Dance Dance Dance 1994
國境の南、太陽の西
Kokkyō no minami, taiyō no nishi 1992 South of the Border, West of the Sun 2000
ねじまき鳥クロニクル
Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru 1995 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 1997
スプートニクの戀人
Supūtoniku no koibito 1999 Sputnik Sweetheart 2001
海邊のカフカ
Umibe no Kafuka 2002 Kafka on the Shore 2005
アフターダーク
Afutā Dāku 2004 After Dark 2007
1Q84
Ichi-kyū-hachi-yon 2009 1Q84 2011
Short stories
Year Japanese Title English Title Appears in
1980 中國行きのスロウ・ボート
"Chūgoku-yuki no surou bōto" "A Slow Boat to China" The Elephant Vanishes
貧乏な叔母さんの話
"Binbō na obasan no hanashi" "A 'Poor Aunt' Story" (The New Yorker, December 3, 2001) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
1981 ニューヨーク炭鑛の悲劇
"Nyū Yōku tankō no higeki" "New York Mining Disaster" (The New Yorker, January 11, 1999)
スパゲティーの年に
"Supagetī no toshi ni" "The Year of Spaghetti" (The New Yorker, November 21, 2005)
四月のある晴れた朝に100パーセントの女の子に齣會うことについて
"Shigatsu no aru hareta asa ni 100-paasento no onna no ko ni deau koto ni tsuite" "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" The Elephant Vanishes
かいつぶり
"Kaitsuburi" "Dabchick" Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
カンガルー日和
"Kangarū-biyori" "A Perfect Day for Kangaroos"
カンガルー通信
"Kangarū tsūshin" "The Kangaroo Communique" The Elephant Vanishes
1982 午後の最後の芝生
"Gogo no saigo no shibafu" "The Last Lawn of the Afternoon"
1983 鏡
"Kagami" "The Mirror" Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
とんがり燒の盛衰
"Tongari-yaki no seisui" "The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes"
螢
"Hotaru" "Firefly"
納屋を燒く
"Naya wo yaku" "Barn Burning" (The New Yorker, November 2, 1992) The Elephant Vanishes
1984 野球場
"Yakyūjō" "Crabs" Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
嘔吐1979
"Ōto 1979" "Nausea 1979"
ハンティング・ナイフ
"Hantingu naifu" "Hunting Knife" (The New Yorker, November 17, 2003)
踴る小人
"Odoru kobito" "The Dancing Dwarf" The Elephant Vanishes
1985 レーダーホーゼン
"Rēdāhōzen" "Lederhosen"
パン屋再襲撃
"Panya saishūgeki" "The Second Bakery Attack"
象の消滅
"Zō no shōmetsu" "The Elephant Vanishes" (The New Yorker, November 18, 1991)
ファミリー・アフェア
"Famirī afea" "A Family Affair"
1986 ローマ帝國の崩壞・一八八一年のインディアン蜂起・ヒットラーのポーランド侵入・そして強風世界
"Rōma-teikoku no hōkai・1881-nen no Indian hōki・Hittorā no Pōrando shinnyū・soshite kyōfū sekai" "The Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1881 Indian Uprising, Hitler's Invasion of Poland, and the Realm of Raging Winds"
ねじまき鳥と火曜日の女たち
"Nejimaki-dori to kayōbi no onnatachi" "The Wind-up Bird And Tuesday's Women" (The New Yorker, November 26, 1990)
1989 眠り
"Nemuri" "Sleep" (The New Yorker, March 30, 1992)
TVピープルの逆襲
"TV pīpuru no gyakushū" "TV People" (The New Yorker, September 10, 1990)
飛行機―あるいは彼はいかにして詩を讀むようにひとりごとを言ったか
"Hikōki-arui wa kare wa ika ni shite shi wo yomu yō ni hitorigoto wo itta ka" "Aeroplane: Or, How He Talked to Himself as if Reciting Poetry" (The New Yorker, July 1, 2002) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
我らの時代のフォークロア―髙度資本主義前史
"Warera no jidai no fōkuroa-kōdo shihonshugi zenshi" "A Folklore for My Generation: A Prehistory of Late-Stage Capitalism"
1990 トニー瀧𠔌
"Tonī Takitani" "Tony Takitani" (The New Yorker, April 15, 2002)
1991 渖黙
"Chinmoku" "The Silence" The Elephant Vanishes
緑色の獸
"Midori-iro no kemono" "The Little Green Monster"
氷男
"Kōri otoko" "The Ice Man" Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
人喰い貓
"Hito-kui neko" "Man-Eating Cats" (The New Yorker, December 4, 2000)
1995 めくらやなぎと、眠る女
"Mekurayanagi to, nemuru onna" "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman"
1996 七番目の男
"Nanabanme no otoko" "The Seventh Man"
1999 UFOが釧路に降りる
"UFO ga Kushiro ni oriru" "UFO in Kushiro" (The New Yorker, March 19, 2001) after the quake
アイロンのある風景
"Airon no aru fūkei" "Landscape with Flatiron"
神の子どもたちはみな踴る
"Kami no kodomotachi wa mina odoru" "All God's Children Can Dance"
タイランド
"Tairando" "Thailand"
かえるくん、東京を救う
"Kaeru-kun, Tōkyō wo sukuu" "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo"
2000 蜂蜜パイ
"Hachimitsu pai" "Honey Pie" (The New Yorker, August 20, 2001)
2002 バースデイ・ガール
"Bāsudei gāru" "Birthday Girl" Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
2005 偶然の旅人
"Gūzen no tabibito" "Chance Traveller"
ハナレイ・ベイ
"Hanarei Bei" "Hanalei Bay"
どこであれそれが見つかりそうな場所で
"Doko de are sore ga mitsukarisō na basho de" "Where I'm Likely to Find It" (The New Yorker, May 2, 2005)
日々移動する腎臟のかたちをした石
"Hibi idō suru jinzō no katachi wo shita ishi" "The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day"
品川猿
"Shinagawa saru" "A Shinagawa Monkey" (The New Yorker, February 13, 2006)
Essays and Non-Fictions
English Japanese
Year Title Year Title
N/A Not yet published in English (Rain,Burning Sun (Come Rain or Come Shine)) 1990 雨天炎天
"Uten Enten"
N/A Not yet published in English (Portrait in Jazz) 1997 ポ－トレイト・イン・ジャズ
"Pōtoreito in jazu"
2000 Underground 1997–1998 アンダーグラウンド
"Andāguraundo"
N/A Not yet published in English (Portrait in Jazz 2) 2001 ポ－トレイト・イン・ジャズ 2
"Pōtoreito in jazu 2"
2008 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running 2007 走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること
"Hashiru koto ni tsuite kataru toki ni boku no kataru koto"
N/A Not yet published in English (It Ain't Got that Swing (If It Don't Mean a Thing)) 2008 意味がなければスイングはない
"Imi ga nakereba suingu wa nai"
Translations
* C. D. B. Bryan - The Great Dethriffe
* Truman Capote - A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, Breakfast at Tiffany's, I Remember Grandpa, Children on Their Birthdays
* Raymond Carver - All Works of Raymond Carver
* Raymond Chandler - Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Goodbye
* Bill Crow - Jazz Anecdotes, From Birdland to Broadway
* Terry Farish - The Cat Who Liked Potato Soup
* F. Scott Fitzgerald - My Lost City, The Great Gatsby
* Jim Fusilli - The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds
* Mikal Gilmore - Shot in the Heart
* Mark Helprin - Swan Lake
* John Irving - Setting Free the Bears
* Ursula K. Le Guin - Catwings, Catwings Return, Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, Jane on her Own
* Tim O'Brien - The Nuclear Age, The Things They Carried, July, July
* Grace Paley - Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, The Little Disturbances of Man
* J. D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye
* Mark Strand - Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories
* Paul Theroux - World's End and Other Stories
* Chris Van Allsburg - The Polar Express, The Wretched Stone, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Ben's Dream, Two Bad Ants, The Sweetest Fig, The Window's Broom, The Stranger, The Wreck of the Zephyer, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
Translators of Murakami's works
Murakami's works have been translated into many languages. Below is a list of translators according to language (by alphabetical order):
* Arabic - Saeed Alganmi, Iman Harrz Allah
* Brazilian Portuguese - Ana Luiza Dantas Borges
* Bulgarian - Ljudmil Ljutskanov
* Catalan - Albert Nolla, Concepció Iribarren, Imma Estany
* Chinese - 賴明珠/Lai Ming-zhu (Taiwan), 林少華/Lin Shao-hua (China), 葉恵/Ye Hui (Hong Kong, China)
* Croatian - Vojo Šindolić
* Czech - Tomáš Jurkovič
* Danish - Mette Holm
* Dutch - Elbrich Fennema, Jaques Westerhoven, L. van Haute
* English - Alfred Birnbaum, Jay Rubin, Philip Gabriel, Hideo Levy (USA), Theodore W. Goossen (Canada)
* Estonian - Kati Lindström, Kristina Uluots
* Faroese - Pauli Nielsen
* Finnish - Leena Tamminen, Ilkka Malinen, Juhani Lindholm
* French - Corinne Atlan, Hélène Morita, Patrick De Vos, Véronique Brindeau
* Galician - Mona Imai, Gabriel Álvarez Martínez
* Georgian - Irakli Beriashvili
* German - Ursula Gräfe, Nora Bierich, Sabine Mangold, Uwe Hohmann
* Greek - Maria Aggelidou, Thanasis Douvris, Leonidas Karatzas, Juri Kovalenko, Stelios Papazafeiropoulos, Giorgos Voudiklaris
* Hebrew - Einat Cooper, Dr. Michal Daliot-Bul
* Hungarian - Erdős György, Horváth Kriszta, Komáromy Rudolf
* Icelandic - Uggi Jónsson
* Indonesian - Jonjon Johana
* Italian - Giorgio Amitrano, Antonietta Pastore
* Korean - Kim Choon-Mie, Kim Nanjoo
* Latvian - Ingūna Beķere
* Lithuanian - Milda Dyke, Irena Jomantienė, Jūratė Nauronaitė, Marius Daškus, Dalia Saukaitytė, Ieva Stasiūnaitė, Ieva Susnytė
* Norwegian - Ika Kaminka, Kari and Kjell Risvik
* Persian - Gita Garakani, Mehdi Ghobarayi, Bozorgmehr Sharafoddin
* Polish - Anna Zielinska-Elliott
* Portuguese - Maria João Lourenço, Leiko Gotoda
* Romanian - Angela Hondru, Silvia Cercheaza, Andreea Sion, Iuliana Tomescu
* Russian - Dmitry V. Kovalenin, Ivan Sergeevich Logatchev, Sergey Ivanovich Logatchev, Anatoly Lyan
* Serbian - Nataša Tomić, Divna Tomić
* Slovak - Lucia Kružlíková
* Slovene - Nika Cejan, Aleksander Mermal
* Spanish - Lourdes Porta, Junichi Matsuura, Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo y Gavala
* Swedish - Yukiko Duke, Eiko Duke, Vibeke Emond
* Thai - Noppadol Vatsawat, Komsan Nantachit, Tomorn Sukprecha
* Turkish - Pınar Polat, Nihal Önol, Hüseyin Can Erkin
* Ukrainian - Ivan Dziub, Oleksandr Bibko
* Vietnamese - Trinh Lu, Tran Tien Cao Dang, Duong Tuong, Cao Viet Dung, Pham Xuan Nguyen