The Kingdom That Failed

 translated by Jay Rubin, The Kingdom That Failed by Murakami Haruki is available to read at The New Yorker -

https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/the-kingdom-that-failed

The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories

Edited by Jay Rubin The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is also introduced by Murakami Haruki, who offers a synopsis of the writers and stories featured, it's interesting to note Murakami's admission of his allergies towards the tradition of the Watakushi shosetsu/I-novel and also of his general disinterest of the mainstay of Japanese literature, although obviously there are some exceptions. In his Editorial Note Rubin discusses the difficulties of compiling anthologies in that it's a near on impossible task to include everything, no doubt when thinking of stories/authors to include something of a domino effect of associations must arise and you'd end up with a volume running into many thousands of pages. Perhaps looking through the authors here it's something of a shame to see that Dazai remains left out, although him aside the rest of the big names of his era are represented here, Mishima, Kawabata, Soseki, Tanizaki, whose novella The Story of Tomoda and Matsunaga translated by Paul Warham opens the anthology, Rubin notes that this was to be a first appearance of the story into English although the story previously appeared in Red Roofs and Other Stories, trans by Chambers and McCarthy, as noted in the Further Reading chapter, another author whose omission might cause surprise is Abe Kobo, another Ichiyo Higuchi. Another aspect of compiling anthologies is the conundrum of the layout of the stories and here Rubin has gone for a thematic approach as well as usefully listing the stories in chronological order in his Editorial Note. It's also interesting that Rubin has said that this will be the last of this kind of enterprise that he will be involved with so it feels that the stories are ones that carry a resonance for him, as well as their being a number of stories having their debut in English translation, the anthology also recollects a number of stories that have been presented previously in varying anthologies and offers them up again for reconsideration, as well as including the stories from Penguin's new Modern 50's older translations of his resurface; Peaches by Abe Akira and American Hijiki by Nosaka Akiyuki, and obviously two from Murakami Haruki, among more.

Among the stories that have seen publication previously then but perhaps have slipped from prominence is Enchi Fumiko's fascinating A Bond for Two Lifetimes - Gleanings translated by Phyllis Birnbaum originally published in Rabbits, Crabs, Etc: Stories by Japanese Women, centering on a one time student of Professor Nunokawa who has been asked by the professor to assist him with the transcribing of Akinari's Tale of Moonlight and Rain and Tales of Spring Rain into modern Japanese. As with a number of other stories in the anthology, Ogawa Yoko's The Tale of the House of Physics being another, Enchi's story uses the story within a story premise, or book within a story to great affect, the tale of the buried monk Josuke who comes back to life begins to find parallels with that of the narrator's husband who had died in the war, the narrator also confronts male dominance recollecting the professor's advances towards her and also of the male figure who appears at the end of the story adds to associations and conclusions for the narrator. Another noteworthy story that comes under the chapter themed Men and Women is Ohba Minako's The Smile of a Mountain Witch translated by Noriko Mizuta an allegorical story that uses the myth of the yamauba to explore male/female relations as well as that of mother/daughter. Also included in this chapter is the first time in English translation of Banana Yoshimoto's Bee Honey, translated by Michael Emmerich. Another story appearing for the first time is Nakagami Kenji's Remaining Flowers translated by Eve Zimmerman, which bears some of the physicality and dark eroticism his stories are known for, which follows logger Jukichi as he falls in love with a beautiful blind woman, the story opens with the finding of a man's body whilst builders demolish a house for redevelopment, the story unfolds and follows dark paths to conclude with allusions to it's opening.

Another of the themed chapters is Nature and Memory which as well as including stories by Motoyuki Shibata, Murakami Haruki, Abe Akira and Ogawa Yoko, Jay Rubin has included his translation of Doppo Kunikida's Unforgettable People a story from 1898 which is the oldest of the anthology, a nuanced story that arises from a conversation between writer and painter Otsu and Akiyama on a night at an inn examines the subtleties of memory and acknowledgement of human presences. The chapter headed Modern Life and Other Nonsense offers up an interesting selection of writers that span the decades, featuring the stories - Closet LLB by Uno Koji, brief ones from Hoshi Shin'ichi and Betsuyaku Minoru, also Mr English by Genji Keita and Dreams of Love, Etc by Kawakami Mieko, an interestingly engaging story of a brief connection between two women of a neighbourhood, whilst through their encounters with each other adopt alternative identities. Through the briefer chapter ominously entitled Dread is the chapter Disasters, Natural and Man-Made which itself is then broken down with subcategories - containing stories concerning the earthquakes of Kobe, Kanto and Tohoku and more under the headings of Post-War Japan and also The Atomic Bombings, 1945 which includes the piece Hiroshima, City of Doom translated by Richard H. Minear, visualizing the protagonists at the riverside on the first night of the bombing brings to mind John Hersey's book Hiroshima. As with this story and Saeki Kazumi's Weather-Watching Hill, translated by David Boyd the reader receives the impression of being deposited at scenes of destruction so immense that perhaps literature can only partially convey although their ability to move remains total.

As with all anthologies it is that they can be approached on many levels, The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is a solid mixture of stories covering multiple themes and events, they also come to us from various perspectives of varying time periods. As well as containing some firsts into translation, the book offers a variety of the familiar and the not so but it remains a great and essential addition for both seasoned and first time readers.




The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories at Penguin 


     

         

Wind/Pinball: Two Novels

Reissued today, (or thereabouts), Wind/Pinball: Two Novels  collects two early novels of Murakami Haruki in a new translation by Ted Goossen, a while ago I received an email highlighting the fact that you can read Murakami's introduction online via Literary Hub, the introduction is also translated by Goossen. I've already got copies of the two editions published originally in the Kodansha English Library series, but think I'll have to track out a copy of this new translation.

Haruki Murakami: The Moment I Became A Novelist at Literary Hub

The book at Secker/Harvill and at Knopf

Strange Library/Fushigina tosyukan by Murakami Haruki

Recently stumbled upon the news of the appearance in translation of Murakami Haruki's Fushigina Tosyukan/Strange Library, from 2008 with illustrations from Sasaki Maki. No news yet of the translator's identity, but I think this is due to appear before the end of the year, which I'm presuming will also appear simultaneously in an edition from Knopf.

the book at Random House.

the book at Amazon Japan

Maki Sasaki at J'Lit and Japanese Wiki

the book at Amazon U.K

New Murakami Haruki collection - Onna no inai Otokotachi

Piece of book news, just as Murakami Haruki's latest novel is due to appear in English the author has a new collection due for publication on April 18th, his first collection since Tokyo Kitan-syu was published back in 2005. Published by Bungei Shunju, 女のいない男たち - Onna no inai Otokotachi - Men Without Women, brings together six stories, five of which have appeared previously in the publisher's magazine, including the story 'Drive My Car', which saw the author caught in controversy. The collection also contains one story, the title story, previously unpublished.

Onna no inai Otokotachi at Bungei Shunju

Amazon

  

Haruki Murakami - A Walk to Kobe

Murakami Haruki's A Walk To Kobe is available to read over at  >  Granta online included in issue number 124 - Travel.

Translation news - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Some news that I'm really late at picking up on of the translation of Murakami Haruki's  Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage over at The Asahi Shimbun, which looks like it may arrive in 2014, although reading the article it maybe that Jay Rubin's translation of Murakami's Talking With Seiji Ozawa about Music may appear first. 

Five Strange Tales from Tokyo

A post that I had on hold just in case, but after my dreadful oversight in thinking that Strange Tales of Tokyo/Tokyo Ki tansyu hadn't  appeared in English translation, I thought that I'd better acquaint myself with this collection, although my error has acted as a great prompt for me as Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman has inexcusably escaped my reading since I received it many years ago. Although in my slight defence the stories that feature in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman are taken from  various sources and to add to this a couple of the translations that appear in it have also  appeared in stand alone volumes. Tony Takitani was published by Cloverfield Press back in 2006, and also the story Airplane: Or, How He Talked to Himself as If Reciting Poetry, was published by the Oundle Festival as Aero-plane, appearing in a very limited signed edition in conjunction with the event, copies of which now exchange for a small fortune, sadly I don't own a copy of either. Strange Tales of Tokyo/Tokyo Ki tansyu make up the last five stories at the end of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and are translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin, as are all of the stories that make up the collection, I confined myself to reading these five stories, although after reading Murakami's intro-duction I read through The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes, it was hard not to, and Tony Takitani which I'm sure I've read before. For a number of reasons it would be great to see English translations appear as closely to the original Japanese ones as possible although I'm sure publishers aren't too keen on publishing slim volumes, but I really love the cover art of the original Tokyo Ki tansyu, which is from Enoki Toshiyuki, check out the rest of his Anima mundi series.

Tokyo Ki tansyu opens with Chance Traveler a story that is built up around coincidences, the opening narrator is Murakami himself recalling a Jazz concert that he attended where the performer launches into songs which he himself was contemplating hearing, the songs are ones that hypothetically he would be pressed into wanting to hear played. The narrative gets carried over in describing a friend, a man who tunes his piano, we are given a slight portrait of the man and learn that he is gay, he meets by chance a married  woman in a coffee shop, after they have become better acquainted he discovers that the woman has cancer and that she has a mole. The nuances to the characters are that the we get the impression that the woman is feeling suffocated within her marriage and hints that she would like to take their relationship further, but the piano tuner explains his orientation and apologetically declines, with him we learn of the problems he faces in being homosexual, the strangers form their relationship out of being able to confide in each other. Reading the motifs used in this story I was reminded of Mishima Yukio, although I wouldn't want to begin to compare Murakami Haruki with Mishima Yukio to  any great degree, the appearance of the mole in the story reminded me of the Sea of Fertility where the mole represented the proof of reincarnation, and in Chance Traveler it is used to link the mysterious woman with that of the the piano tuner's estranged sister who also has a mole on her ear and  unbeknownst to him has also suffered from cancer, the woman appears almost as a visitation which prompts the man into re-establishing his relationship with his sister and her homophobic husband. Many of Murakami's stories feature characters with dual existences, reading the story in this light reminded me again of a scene from one of Mishima's modern noh plays - The Damask Drum, the description of the lonely policeman who will only encounter another policeman walking the other way. Chance Traveler provokes us into thinking that no matter how hard things can be, something good or better may come about, for me the point where the story elevates is when the married woman confides to the piano tuner that she has cancer, something she has yet to tell her husband, the piano tuner tells her about his rule in life - "If you have to choose between something that has form and something that doesn't, go for the one without form. That's my rule. Whenever I run into a wall I follow that rule, and it always works out. Even if it's hard going at the time." In using the character of a piano tuner to straighten out discord Murakami displays a subtle touch to this story.

Hanalei Bay is probably the most resonant story in the collection, it follows Sachi, a woman whose son drowns after a shark attack in Hawaii, she travels there to confirm her son's identity, whilst there she meets two Japanese surfers who encounter a ghost on the beach whose description resembles that of her son. Exploring Sachi's past this story sees a musical involvement with her being a piano player, the story is balanced between loss and Sachi's understated fortitude. Where I'm Likely to Find It, sees Murakami again explore themes of duality and also conveys a sense of emptiness or the directionless of modern life. The narrative comes from a detective who enigmatically excepts no payment for his services as he takes on a case to track down a missing husband, a prevalent aspect to Murakami's writing is his subtle sense of balance within his stories and also that of the appearance of dualism, not only with his characters in his stories but also with the events that occur in them. In this story the detective centers his attention on the last known whereabouts of the husband, floors 24 - 26 of the building where he lives or lived, as he walks around the building, (posing as an insurance agent), he encounters a number of characters, an old man who appears almost like a sage and also a young girl who the detective subtly converses with. He conveys to her that he's looking for some-thing, which we think at first he is referring to the missing husband but it begins to take on a broader meaning, implying that he's looking for something to give meaning to his life, the dimensions and shape of this missing something remain unclear. A striking juxtaposition of events occur in this story, that of the detective coming out of himself in an attempt to find that missing something and also the husband who has been unwittingly lost, who mysteriously finds himself on a bench without any memory of where he has been or how he got there, Murakami seems to be pointing out that the power of consciousness or the attainment of a sense equilibrium is a malleable quality and is shared and connected between people existing somewhere out there, perhaps irrespective of their will, or that people are susceptible to it's force.

The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day, for me was one of the most satisfying to read out of the collection, the narrative  employs a story within a story mechanism but begins with Junpei being told by his father that he will meet only three women that, 'have real meaning for him', it's delivered almost like a maxim and Junpei is keen to break this hex. Junpei meets a woman whom he falls in love with, but it's unrequited, but he's sure that she is the first out of the three. As the narrative progresses we learn that Junpei is a writer who has been nominated for the Akutagawa but never won, this is revealed when he is talking to Kirie, a woman whom he meets whilst drinking, a relationship starts but details of the woman are slight, her occupation remains a mystery. The story within the story begins to materialize with Junpei writing a story about a doctor who one day finds a kidney shaped stone, before he finishes it Kirie vanishes from his life, even with the story published she doesn't make contact. Time passes and randomly in a taxi Junpei thinks he hears her being interviewed on the radio about her speaking about her experiences as a high wire walker. In Junpei's  story the stone begins to move of it's own accord, eventually the doctor finds the kidney shape in her lover's body, (a married surgeon whom she's having an affair),  She knows that her kidney shaped stone is lurking in there. The kidney is a secret informer that she herself has buried in her lover's body. Beneath her fingers, it squirms like an insect, sending her kidney-type messages. She converses with the kidney, exchanging intelligence. The stone infringes on the doctor's life until she can think of nothing else, despite hurtling it into the sea the stone reappears on her desk. The way Murakami merges the story Junpei is writing with his thoughts about Kirie is fascinating to read and will probably offer fresh perspectives and nuances over repeated readings.

The last story is A Shinagawa Monkey whose central character is Mizuki Ando, a married woman who has a problem in remembering her name, she visits a counselor for help and the narrative returns to her being at school, she tells her counsellor of Yuko Matsunaka, a  beautiful and popular student who visited her before committing suicide, she had given Mizuki her school name tag to look after, a monkey could come and pinch it she warns Mizuki. Many times it's pointed out that Mizuki was a young woman who never succumbed to jealousy, her purity of spirit is something which seems to be the aspect of her character that it could be said is rewarded at the story's close, or at least makes a path towards this outcome. A Shinagawa Monkey reads very much like a modern fable as indeed as a number of these stories do. Tokyo Ki tansyu is a deeply interesting collection to read, more impressive contemplating that Murakami finished them in a month, whilst reading them you become aware again of  his distinctive spatial quality, although despite sometimes the individual flavouring given to his characters I sometimes feel a slight claustrophobia in reading them, in their differences they begin to form a uniformity, but this it could be said reflects the human, in as much as we are all different we essentially remain the same.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman at Vintage U.K

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman at Vintage International 

Murakami re-published

Vintage Books have recently re-published and re-jacketed Murakami's back catalogue, along with this they have reissued Jay Rubin's book Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words with it's original cover and also with an updated chapter on 1Q84, and perhaps an additional piece on Murakami's as of yet untranslated short story collection Strange Tales From Tokyo*, it's been a long time since reading this book so I can't remember if this featured in the original edition, perhaps this could be a pointer as to what might be the next Murakami to appear in English translation?.

*Or perhaps not, please see comments...  .....more haste less accuracy.....apologies.

1Q84 Book Three

One of the first differences to Book Three is that of a third narrative being added to Tengo's and Aomame's, that of Ushikawa's, some of the details to his character are sketched in and explained further, Murakami devotes a lot of pages to exploring this character and illustrating his background. Tengo's situation at first doesn't change a great deal, he revisits his father who is still in a comatose state in the sanatorium in what Tengo has named the cat town. Aomame's fate alters from where we thought it was heading at the end of Book Two. Fuka-Eri, (still hiding out in Tengo's apartment at first but then disappears again),  Aomame and Ushikawa receive a visit by a persistent NHK fee collector,  knocking on their doors to collect their subscription fees, the true identity of this collector remains one of the novels enigmas, along with the fate of Fuka-Eri, Murakami's main narrative in the third book is following Tengo and Aomame's story, at the end of reading  Book Three  Murakami has left a lot of unexplored territory to cover if he were to return to write additional Books to 1Q84. Another difference to Book Three is that the pacing  slows markedly in comparison to Books One and Two giving Book Three an altogether different slightly more measured tone to the previous Books, in hindsight it felt like it could be said that the main character of a good portion of Book Three is Ushikawa,  the feeling that you're sat with him in the apartment looking watch over Tengo's apartment is palpable. There are large passages of descriptive text in the book, and much of it witnesses the character's circumspection of both unestablished and established aspects of the plot but there are also some vivid passages too, and for me these were amongst my favourite parts of the book, with this in mind it's difficult to contemplate 1Q84 as a whole entity, it dips and peaks, the chapter, 'Occam's Razor', seemed like one of the most hurriedly constructed chapters that I've read in a novel in a long time, for Ushikawa to connect so many threads together in such a short space left me slightly reeling, but I enjoyed how Book Three carves out its own spacious world.

Several stand out scenes for me in Book Three included the description of Aomame's dreams, three of them to begin with, in one Aomame appears to become transparent, where she can still see her vital organs and bones beneath her skin, this depiction of identity loss is echoed with Tengo's father's statement after Tengo asks him about his place in regard to his parentage, You're nothing, Tengo's father replies, which leads me to another passage that I thought  was  another of the novel's peaks, the description of the contents of the envelope that Tengo's father leaves him, Tengo's certificates and the description of the family photograph, the death of Tengo's surrogate father from a condition the doctors couldn't clarify, could have been the result of exhaustion from a life spent working, his cradle to the grave work life ended with him being buried in his uniform had a crushingly understated sadness to it, it almost appeared like something from a 19th century novel depicting life in the work houses. At times it seemed that not a great deal happens in a proportion of Book Three, but then again it does, Tengo's episode with hashish with nurse Kumi Adachi seemed to almost slip unnoticed amongst the subdued vividness of Murakami's prose, the translation of Book Three is by Philip Gabriel, I've read that the translation was split between the two translators to ensure the publication of the English translation came out as quick as possible. The breadth of Murakami's imagination is always something to be in awe of, and after reading the three books you get the impression that perhaps this is the first dropping of the pebble into the water in regards to how much of the story has been left but could be explored further, but perhaps this will not be the case, maybe Book Three will be the last Book of 1Q84, we'll have to wait and see, maybe a Book 4 will be a much slimmer volume, I've been thinking that maybe Book Three will not be the last to 1Q84.

1Q84 Book Two

So I've given it a little time to digest Book One and nearly spoiled Book Two by over reading about it on another blog's post about it, but thinking it over I've still got Book Three to read yet and with rumours that Murakami well may write a Book Four, or did I read that possibly there might be a Book Zero, (or maybe this was a joke?), the  conclusion of 1Q84 still seems to be a distant thing. Considering the Knopf edition will contain all three books in one volume, a tome that will be difficult to read on a bus or train, maybe books of this size are an ebook publisher's dream come true?. 1Q84 almost appears as a saga in it's length,  although reaching the last hundred pages or so you'll still find yourself wishing that it wasn't coming to an end, you get the impression that if you were to spread out the story and characters of 1Q84 on the floor, the books Murakami has written so far could be seen as him hovering over it with a magnifying glass in hand, revealing these selected scenes and details of an even much larger and more complex story, as with much of Murakami's writing the book resonates on differing levels, and at times maybe within itself. Book Two seemed to pass alot quicker than Book 1, there's obviously alot less devoted to character descriptions and history as certain things that were alluded to in the first book come into fruition, Book Two continues with alternating chapters on the progress of Aomame and Tengo, posting on Book Two becomes difficult if not wanting to reveal too many aspects of the plot. Two new characters appear in Book Two though, Ushikawa, a man who visits Tengo out of the blue, a representative for an agency that aids young talent which offers Tengo a generous amount of money, Tengo turns down the offer sensing that theres something wrong about Ushikawa and the agency he works for, as the novel progresses and repeated visits to Tengo, Ushikawa reveals a thorough knowledge of Tengo's private life, also implying he knows about Tengo's links with Fuka- Eri and also details about  Tengo's mother, the money offered is to be in part protection money. Tengo becomes resolved to the fact the man he thought was his father is actually not his father, (rather incredulously I think he remains unnamed), the man he collected NHK subscriptions  with now resides in a sanatorium, Tengo visits him. The other big character is the Leader of Sakigake, whose meeting with Aomame is when the novel begins to turn again in it's more fundamental direction, this is quite a definitive moment in Book 2 and alot of things are clarified.

1Q84 reads much like a thriller, combining and picking up on any number of differing genres; contemporary novel, modernist fable, futuristic detective, Murakami's ability to write all of these into one narrative is simply an awe inspiring thing, Murakami's prose is pitch perfect, his writing balances the flow of the narrative with that of the reader's expectation. One of the central themes which is apparent in some of Murakami's novels is a sense of dualism in both some of his characters and also the worlds they find themselves inhabiting, this can be seen again in 1Q84, but giving it a full definition without a reading of Book Three is a difficult thing. Murakami has turned his attention to the dark world of a secret religious sect, but the demarcations between right and wrong  become blurred and Murakami can be seen as exploring the relationship between good and evil, recently I read about his admiration for Dostoyevsky whose writing is famed for including many layers of writing which included incidental passages, in Book Two Murakami includes a brief life history of Tamura, the Dowager's gay bodyguard, although it flows neatly into the narrative, so far it has no bearing to the main story, although who's to say what constitutes a central story, isn't it the whole text?, perhaps it will resurface again in Book Three. Quite early on in Book Two the connection between Aomame and Tengo becomes more explicitly explained, and another enlightening scene is of Aomame actually reading the book 'Air Chrysalis', we get to learn the details of this mystifying book. Another aspect which occurred to me whilst reading the two narratives, is how they correlate to each other in regards to the timing of events, it's not until the ending of Book Two that you get the impression that the two narratives are juxtaposed together at the same time, but I think this is used to add tension to the flow, Book Two ends on a massive cliff hanger with Aomame returning to the scene of the novel's opening, but I think I'm going to end here before I over do it. Needless to say I'm really looking forward to reading other blog posts and articles on this book, undoubtedly 1Q84 is set to be one of the biggest novels of the year, not only in physical form but also in presence.

1Q84 at Knopf
1Q84 at Harvill Secker
1Q84 at Shinchosha  (check out the Q world illustrations, this one catches the eeriness of the Little People really well.)

It's Only A Paper Moon

1Q84 Book One

 

Unexpectedly an uncorrected proof of books I and II of 1Q84 came my way recently, I must have been standing in the right time and place, 1Q84 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated translations to arrive this year, these first two books are translated by Jay Rubin and the third is translated by Philip Gabriel. The last of Murakami's fiction that I've read was Hear the Wind Sing, and then more recently I read the non-fiction, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, amongst his longer fiction I've still yet to read is Kafka On The Shore and Dance Dance Dance, 1Q84 has been described as Murakami's magnum opus, the narrative behaves in the way we have come to associate with Murakami, pulling the reader in with a magnetic like force. It might be difficult to write anything on this first book without letting slip some of the elements of the plot, but I'll try not to give away too much, although there's already many places on the net that have given a spoilers and all account of the novel in it's entirety.

The narrative of Book 1, (and I think it continues on into Book 2), is divided, chapter by chapter, between the two main characters; Aomame and Tengo, although as the narratives continue in Tengo's side it could be said that the focus turns to Fuka- Eri, although the perspective is always from Tengo. As usual being a Murakami novel there's reference to quite a few pieces of music most prominently to begin with is Janacek's Sinfonietta, which is playing in the taxi which Aomame is sat in at the start of the novel, which then floats in again a little later, another element familiar in Murakami's novels is the mention of other books, as might be expected Orwell's 1984 is referred to, as is the The Tale of Heike and Chekhov's book on his trip to Sakhalin Island, Tengo reads to Fuka-Eri of the Gilyaks, also another familiar aspect is that both the narratives are permeated with moments from history. Tengo when introduced is coming around from having a kind of seizure, during which a reoccurring memory comes to him from when he was one and a half years old, of his mother with a man, (who Tengo is certain was not his father), who is suckling at her breast. This scene hovers around Tengo throughout the novel and the question of his father's true identity seems to hang in some speculation, his father as Tengo remembers him collected subscription fees for NHK, which on Sundays Tengo had to accompany him with. Another prominent character in Tengo's side of the narrative is Komatsu who is an editor of a literary magazine, and has a history in the student riots of the 1960's, Komatsu wants Tengo to rewrite a manuscript of a novel he's received called Air Chrysalis, whose author Fuka-Eri appears very enigmatic, who asks questions without using question marks. Tengo is reluctant at first but Komatsu persuades him into meeting Fuka-Eri and her guardian; Professor Ebisuno to obtain their permission for the rewrite. The details of what Air Chrysalis is actually about are slowly revealed, set in a mountain commune and populated by Little People who enter this world through a blind goat, Komatsu sets his sights on winning the Akutagwa with it and making a lot of money, you get the impression that Murakami is having a little dig at the business side of the literary establishment.  When meeting Professor Ebisuno, Tengo learns that he was part of the student riots at the Univesity of Tokyo and that he was a friend of Fuka-Eri's parents, who after fleeing the city had created a religious retreat called Sakigake, which began farming and selling organic vegetables, the group split though and the more militant Akebono group was formed, this group was involved in a shoot out with police, in which the members were killed or arrested, one though managed to escape, as Book 1 ends who this person could be is not answered, Professor Ebisuno, or even Komatsu perhaps?.

A major character in Aomame's narrative is her high school friend; Tamaki Otsuka, when the pair were young they had a fleeting lesbian experience, although this encounter doesn't define their relationship, the two are close and they learn that they can confide in each other. Tamaki marries and appears to settle down with her husband, all the time though she had been suffering physical abuse from her husband and eventually commits suicide, this acts as a catalyst for Aomame into shaping what she will be in the novel. Another character known as the Dowager of Azabu whose daughter suffered abuse from a violent husband provides the means in which Aomame can carry out punishments to abusive men, the Dowager has set up a safe house giving sanctuary for abused women. Aomame's history too has a connection to a religious sect, her parents were members of a Christian group but Aomame broke away, as the novel progresses Aomame's consciousness begins to show strange signs, she notices a difference in police uniform and the model of gun they carry which makes her begin to question whether she has slipped out of the year 1984 which she is in and has moved into 1Q84 a parallel year, things begin to get stranger with the appearance of a second moon that hovers in the sky next to the usual one, Aomame is too anxious of the answer she'll get if she asks if anyone else can see it, whether this is symptomatic of Aomame's projected sense of self or a genuine change in something much larger I'm guessing is clarified in Book 2, as the two moons feature again at the closing of Book 1, appearing in the last scene with the Dowager, this sense or depiction of a duality to Aomame's state of mind I remember being something that also occurs to Sumire in Sputnik Sweetheart . Book 1 is a little over three hundred pages and the majority of it is taken up with exploring the character's history and the reader gets a sense that Murakami is putting things in place for Book 2, there are plenty of leads that are left open here that could go anywhere, it's not until two thirds of the way through Book 1 that Tengo and Aomame's narratives show any signs of merging. Aomame forms an unusual friendship and alliance in a policewoman called Ayumi, the Dowager introduces Tsubasa, a ten year old girl staying at the safe house to Aomame which in turn leads Aomame to begin investigating the activities at Sakigake, Tsubasa talks too of the presence of the Little People. There's obviously much more to Book 1 which I've not touched upon, but like with Murakami's other novels there's much here that is in full view and always a lot more to be explored that is obscured to a first reading.

1Q84 at Harvill Secker

1Q84 at Knopf

Norwegian Wood

I find it hard to believe that it's been nearly eleven years since I read Jay Rubin's translation of Norwegian Wood so it was impossible for me to watch Anh Hung Tran's adaption sparing too much thought about making comparisons to the original book. This is the third of Anh Hung Tran's films that I've seen, The Scent of Green Papaya, (1993), has to be one of my favourite films, the other by him that I've seen was Cyclo,(1995), which is a mesmeric piece of film making, so I guess I found myself watching the film largely disregarding the fact that it was adapted from Murakami's novel, although obviously the thought never remained that distant. The film runs for a little over two hours and I guess that if it followed the novel in it's entirety it would have lasted a lot longer, the sequences also run differently than they do in the novel, which also throws attempting to make comparisons to the novel further into difficulty, but for me not having read the novel for such a long time and perhaps for someone who has come to the film without having read the book, (if there was such a viewer?), it made me want to return to the novel, and perhaps for someone who hasn't read it, the film I think would want them to track down a copy of the book.

 

The soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood seemed in places a little bit out of place, sometimes as if it was composed for a different film, although the tracks by Can worked really well, Greenwood's subtler guitar based pieces seemed to fit really well, along with the more atmospheric pieces, although the string arrangements I sometimes found difficult to reconcile with what was happening on screen, it gave the actors an animated quality which worked a little unevenly at times. The Beatles song features only twice in the film, once sung by Reiko, (played by Reika Kirishima), and again at the closing credits, music is an integral aspect to Murakami's novels it's great to learn that YMO legend Haruomi Hosono appears as the record shop owner where Watanabe works.  Kenichi Matsuyama gives an understated performance as Watanabe, caught between the emotionally fragile world of  Naoko and Midori, (played by Kiko Mizuhara), Matsuyama's next movie appearance is in Sabu's Usagi Drop based on Yumi Unita's josei manga Bunny Drop which will also be shown as an animated T.V series. Watching the film for me made me think that Naoko, (played by Rinko Kikuchi), is perhaps the central  character to the story that the rest of the characters revolve around, (although in another sense it could be Kuzuki's suicide, played by Kengo Kora), which I don't remember feeling to such a degree when reading the novel.

 

The film is superbly shot, the scenes of Naoko's rural retreat seemed to match how the novel seems to visualise it, the shots also of Watanabe by the sea after Naoko's suicide were beautifully captured, I've not yet checked the location of some of the filming, the feel of the rest of the film evokes the time period it's set in, with Watanabe walking indifferently amongst protesting students near the start of the film. The novel is obviously a tricky one to transfer onto screen due to Watanabe's inner contemplative narratives which would be difficult to convey in film, although it remains a beautifully presented film and would find it hard to imagine it to disappoint. Anh Hung Tran didn't opt for a voice over narration by Watanabe and has chosen to depict the dialogue and what is seen in the novel in a straight forward way, the emotional scenes are caught with great effect, adapting from literary works is largely an ambiguous enterprise, the film acts in a way as an accompanying visual extension of the original novel but also succeeds as a finely crafted film in it's own sense.    

Norwegian Wood site

Norwegian Wood at Soda Pictures

 

Hear the Wind Sing

Originally published in Japan in 1979, Alfred Birnbaum's translation appeared in the Kodansha English Library series in 1987. This book and 'Pinball 1973', (which is the harder of the two to get hold of a physical copy), haven't been widely available at the author's own behest. I wondered for a while, on the cover at the top of the illustration it reads, 'Happy Birthday and White Christmas', this apparently was the title of the book when Murakami submitted it to the literary magazine Gunzo. It's a small book, 130 pages

to the novel, with an additional 35 pages of notes for the Japanese reader, as this series is aimed at helping Japanese readers of the English language. It's Murakami's first novel.

The narrator of the novel acknowledges he learnt everything about writing from the fictional writer Derek Heartfield, who jumped off the Empire State Building in 1938, clutching a portrait of Hitler in his right hand and an umbrella in his left. The story of a student,  (were not told his name), in his early twenties, who has returned home for summer holiday (Aug 1970), from studying Biology in a Tokyo University. In it he describes how he came to meet the Rat, a character that features in Murakami's other early novels. As

a youth the narrator tells us he didn't say much, and was taken to a psychologist for testing, he was silent until the age of 14. He visits J's Bar and drinks beer with the Rat, they exchange their observations on life. He tells how he woke up next to a woman, can't remember her name, he tells her that the previous night she drunk too much and was sprawled out on the floor of J's, in her wallet he had found her address, and taken her home, and kept watch over her,intending to leave but fell asleep, he didn't do anything, he reassures her. They part when she has to go to work, her character, and the Rat's seem to me the two main characters of the novel, we see them through the narrator's detached observations, he never appears judgemental of them, Murakami's narrator's I find have a certain aloofness to them sometimes, it's almost as if they are acting as counsellor to the characters around them.

A hiccuping DJ from a radio station phones him with a dedication from a mysterious girl we never learn the identity of, he attempts to find her,believing it to be someone from his school days, but fails to trace her. Going into a record store he meets again the woman who he found drunk at J's, who invites him over, a few days later, for beef stew, during the meal they seem to be getting closer, she tells him she's going away for a while, when she returns they meet again and among other things, she confides in him that she had had an operation,also she tells him how she hears voices of people telling her things, usually scolding her, themes that Murakami explores further in his later works, can be seen here, loneliness, alienation. In a separate narrative, he recalls the three girls he has slept with,

the third hung herself, he didn't know why, he suspects that she didn't either. The Rat's reading habits are noted throughout the book's progression, and Murakami's love of music is evident, you could quite easily make a compilation LP with all the tracks referenced in the book. The book was also adapted to film by Kazuki Omori in 1980.

I think I fall into the category of liking Murakami's longer novels over his shorter novellas, and his short stories I really enjoy, so I'm looking forward to reading 1Q84, and also seeing the film version of  'Norwegian Wood', which is due at the end of next year. I've seen

'Tony Takitani', but to start going into Murakami's works on film, might need to be explored in a separate post.

 

Kodansha-Intl.com

 

Haruki Murakami