Anti-heroes: such are the characters created by the popular writer from Kobe, who are possessed by melancholy and the bleakness of existence without dreams of a better life.
The story : an unpredictable plot which breaks with time and convention. Lacking in sense ? No, however, because suddenly the order of reality changes and develops into something else. Everyday life becomes derailed and slides into the fantastic. Little men escape from the television set, a scientist turns kidnapper, a couple hold up a McDonalds, an elephant vanishes…
« This ample novel, which seeks to teach us something, and which was placed under the patronage of Salinger and Fitzgerald, has autobiographical resonances. The tempo at which the story is told is captivating. The hero will have to know suffering, madness and death before he attains a lucid freedom, without having given up on his quest to find true love. An immense tenderness ,a poetic charm and an erotic intensity, which are all striking, are released in this manifesto novel of the years 1969-1970 »
Having studied Greek and theatre, having directed a jazz bar in Tokyo for 7 years and having translated S. Fitzgerald, R. Irving and R. Chandler, Murakami Haruki is considered to be one of the greatest contemporary Japanese writers today. His novels include « A Wild Sheep Chase » (1982), « Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World » (1985), « Norwegian Wood » (1987), « Dance, Dance,Dance » (1988), « The Elephant Vanishes » (1993), « The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle » (1994), « South of the Border, West of the Sun » (1995), « Underground » (1997), « Sputnik Sweetheart », « After the Quake » (2000), and « Kafka on the Shore » (2002). Some have had resounding success, but they are all masterpieces. A must-read!
Find out more about Murakami Haruki
* not to be confused with the author of the same surname, an experimental writer who writes things that are much more trashy to reveal the lives of large urban housing developments [« Almost Transparent Blue » (1976), « New York City Marathon » (1986) ]
