Haruki Murakami

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Haruki Murakami (2009)

Haruki Murakami ( Japanese 村上 春樹 Murakami Haruki; born January 12, 1949 in Kyoto ) is a Japanese author of novels, short stories and non-fiction books. His style is characterized by surrealistic elements and allusions to pop culture . Although his stories are set in Japan, they are shaped by models from Western literature. Murakami has been ranked among the most popular and influential Japanese authors of his generation by reviewers repeatedly. His books have received numerous literary prizes, have been translated into around 50 languages ​​and some of them have been adapted into films or plays. The author also ran a jazz bar in Tokyo, worked as a translator of American literature and held visiting professorships at US universities for four years.

Life

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949. His father is the son of a Buddhist priest and the mother is the daughter of a trader in Osaka . Murakami spent his childhood in a suburb of the city of Kobe , where both parents taught Japanese literature . Contrary to his parents' profession, the young Haruki was less interested in Japanese than in Western literature and music. Because of Kobe's status as a port city, he could easily get to second-hand books from American marines stationed there.

Murakami studied theater studies from 1968 at Waseda University . There he met his wife Yoko, whom he married after graduating in 1971 and with whom he is still together today. At the same time, he worked in a record store before  opening his own jazz bar - Peter Cat - in Tokyo in 1974  , which he ran until 1982. These experiences can also be found in Murakami's work: several of his books are named after song titles, including Noruwei no mori (Japanese for Norwegian Wood, after the song of the Beatles ; in German translation: Naoko's smile ) and Dansu dansu dansu (Japanese for dance , dance, dance, based on a title by the Beach Boys ; in German translation: Tanz mit dem Schafsmann ). In addition, the protagonist of Kokkyō no minami, taiyō no nishi (Japanese for South of The Border, West of the Sun (based on the song South of the Border ); German: dangerous beloved ) runs a jazz club.

Murakami said he began writing in 1978, inspired by a striking blow in a baseball game. In 1979 and 1980 his first two novels were published, Kaze no uta o kike (German: When the wind sings ) and 1973-nen no pinbōru (German: Pinball 1973 ), from which he later explicitly distanced himself, and which was only published in German in 2015 Translation published. In 1984 he moved his residence several times ( Fujisawa , Tokyo , Ōiso ), then he traveled to Italy and Greece . In 1991 he was first visiting professor and then visiting professor at Princeton University ( New Jersey ). In July 1993, he accepted a call to Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, only to return to his home two years later. He has lived in Ōiso since 2001 .

The news magazine Time took him in 2015 in his list time 100 as one of the 100 most influential people of the world.

Honourings and prices

Haruki Murakami at the 2009 Jerusalem Prize ceremony

Murakami has received several awards for his work, including the following:

Works

Novels

An overarching theme in Murakami's work is the loss of loved ones and the often unsuccessful search for them. The novels are often kept in the style of magical realism , where physical and psychological reality merge seamlessly. Mystical or fairytale-like passages form a natural part of the narrated reality.

Murakami often gives the central characters in his works autobiographical traits. They share their creator's preference for simple, tasty food, listen to jazz or rock and spend their time in good bars. Often they are characterized by a complex depth, which Murakami is able to describe verbatim and pictorially or to outline in a few sentences.

Murakami is very well read in European and North American literature and is committed to his great role models Franz Kafka and Fyodor Michailowitsch Dostojewski . For many years he has endeavored to bring American literature closer to Japanese readers , translating into Japanese authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald , John Irving , Paul Theroux , Raymond Carver , Raymond Chandler, and Truman Capote . This earned him the accusation of “Western influences” in his works on the part of traditional Japanese critics.

When the Wind Sings / Pinball 1973

Murakami's first two novels, Wenn der Wind singt ( Japanese 風 の 歌 を 聴 け kaze no uta o kike, 1979, German 2015) and Pinball 1973 (Japanese 1973-nen no pinbōru, 1980, German 2015) have the Self-discovery of the protagonists in the context of the burgeoning pop culture in Japan. Together with Murakami's third novel Wilde Schafsjagd , they form the rat trilogy, with the rat being a friend of the narrator. Murakami soon distanced himself from these two novels and prevented translations for decades, so that they did not appear in German until 2015.

Wild sheep hunting

The novel Wilde Schafsjagd ( Japanese 羊 を め ぐ る 冒 険 hitsuji o meguru bōken, 1982, Ger. 1991) mixes elements of the detective story set in a very modern Japan with those of Murakami's own mysticism . The focus is on the nameless first-person narrator, around 30, whiskey drinker and fan of rock music , who is drawn into the world between life and death based on a photo.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

The novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World ( Japanese 世界 の 終 わ り と ハ ー ド ボ イ ル ド ・ ワ ン ダ ー ラ ン ド sekai no owari to hādoboirudo wandārando, 1985, German 1995) is a fantastic novel. In the distant present, a data war is raging in which the 35-year-old first-person narrator serves as a weapon. The manipulation of the rival powers forces him to live in two parallel worlds - the real Tokyo and a reduced, fairytale-like place. Ultimately, however, he will only be able to survive in one. In 2006 Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World appeared in a new edition as a hardback edition by Dumont Verlag.

Naokos smile

The novel Naoko's smile ( Japanese ノ ル ウ ェ イ の 森 noruwei no mori, 1987, German 2001) (English title Norwegian Wood) is about the theater studies student Toru, who cannot make a decision between the mysterious Naoko and the fun-loving Midori . Here, too, the issue of loss plays a major role, as it not only affects the beloved Naoko, but also the childhood friend Kizuki, who commits suicide.

Dance with the sheepman

Dance with the Sheepman ( Japanese ダ ン ス ･ ダ ン ス ･ ダ ン ス dansu dansu dansu, novel, 1988, German 2002) mixes mystical elements with the real. The 34-year-old first-person narrator has just been left without a word by his wife and is now heading to Sapporo to find his former lover. His alter ego, the sheepman, advises him wisely. This is the continuation of "Wild Sheep Hunt".

Dangerous lovers / South of the border, west of the sun

The novel Dangerous Beloved (English title South of the border, West of the Sun ) ( Japanese 国境 の 南 、 太陽 の 西 kokkyō no minami, taiyō no nishi, 1992, German 2000) is about love and passion, which binds the married jazz bar owner Hajime to his childhood love Shimamoto, who has been rediscovered years later. The novel became a book for the city in Cologne in 2005 .

When the book was discussed in the program Das Literarisches Quartett at the end of June 2000 , a scandal broke out when Sigrid Löffler accused the author of having no language and literally described the book as literary fast food - McDonald’s . She emphasized the erotic representations in a particularly negative way, but she also qualified the Japanese salutation as a ritualized use of language. Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Hellmuth Karasek, however, defended the book. Karasek in particular criticized Löffler for her judgment, praised the author's craftsmanship and mentioned that Murakami was already considered an upcoming Nobel Prize winner by some . As a result, Löffler left the series.

In the course of the dispute it turned out that the German version of the novel was not based on the Japanese original text, but was a second translation from the American . In 2013 Murakami expert Ursula Gräfe re-translated the book from Japanese; the new translation was published by Dumont under the new title South of the Border, West of the Sun (which is closer to the original title than the title of the first translation). In Grafe's translation, the story appears, according to the critic, "softer, rounder, less flippant".

Mister winder

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ( Jap. ねじまき鳥クロニクル nejimakidori kuronikuru, novel, from 1994 to 1995, dt. 1998) is about a 30-year-old unemployed who finds himself at a crossroads in his life after he was abandoned by his wife. The search for his cat and the acquaintance of a young girl from the neighborhood play a major role. Interwoven into the plot are sometimes terrifying memories of the protagonists of the time of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and of the Japanese-Soviet border conflict . The novel is about the revival of a subject that Murakami first processed in 1986 in the short story The Winding Bird and the Tuesday Women. (Published in: The Elephant Disappears .)

In the 1998's the German version of the novel is like South of the Border, West of the Sun to a second translation from the American that is not based on the Japanese original. The new translation from the Japanese by Ursula Gräfe announced for 2020 will appear under the title Die Chroniken des Herr Aufziehvogel .

Sputnik Sweetheart

Sputnik Sweetheart ( Japanese ス プ ー ト ニ ク の 恋人 supūtoniku no koibito, Roman, 1999, Ger . 2002) mixes the fantastic with the real world again. The 22-year-old Sumire is out of reach of her friend K., who loves her, because she in turn loves a woman. When Sumire disappears in Greece, K. goes in search of her.

Kafka on the beach

Kafka am Strand ( Japanese 海 辺 の カ フ カ umibe no kafuka, 2002, German 2004) is formally linked to “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the end of the world”. Again there are two storylines, one of which deals with the escape of the boy Kafka Tamura. He leaves his home after an Oedipal curse has been prophesied to him by his father . The other storyline deals with the fate of Nakata, a mentally handicapped man who can talk to cats after an incident in World War II. However, after Nakata is forced by a mysterious man named Johnnie Walker to kill Tamura's father Kafka, the fantastic storylines, at the center of which is an old library, mix.

Afterdark

Afterdark ( Japanese ア フ タ ー ダ ー ク afutā dāku, 2005) deals with the events of one night. The narrator alternately describes the life of two sisters who couldn't be more different: while one wandering around sleepless , the other is in a coma-like state. Not only are the sisters' states of consciousness contrasted, but also the narrative. While the storyline about the sleepless sister is constructed through a fast-paced description of her experiences, the narrator (and thus also the reader) always observes the sleeping sister as if through a camera.

1Q84

1Q84 (Japanese い ち き ゅ う は ち よ んichi-kyū-hachi-yon, phonetically identical to 1984 ) was published by Shinchōsha in May 2009. The book is in three parts and treats the issue as the year 1984 would be able, in contrast to George Orwell's imagination , as the year 1984 would be able to. The German translation of the first two parts appeared in one volume in October 2010 and the translation of the third part in another volume in October 2011.

The pilgrimage of the colorless Mr. Tazaki

The Pilgrimage Years of the Colorless Lord Tazaki (Japanese 色彩 を 持 た な い 多 崎 つ く る と 、 彼 の 巡礼 の 年 , Shikisai o Motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to, Kare no Junrei no Toshi ) appeared in Japan on April 12, 2013. The novel was published in Germany on January 10, 2014. Out of love for a woman, 36-year-old railway engineer Tsukuru Tazaki decides to face his worst childhood trauma. Without a reason, his four closest friends terminated their friendship at the same time. The reason for this is still unclear. In order to be able to open up to love again, he decides to face his past and to confront his former friends.

The murder of the Commendatore

The murder of the Commendatore (Japanese 騎士 団 長 殺 し Kishidanchō goroshi , published by Shinchōsha, 2017) consists of two parts and is published in German by the DuMont book publisher: An idea was published on January 22, 2018, A metaphor changes appeared on April 16, 2018. A successful portrait painter is abandoned by his wife and after a long, aimless odyssey, retires to a lonely house in the mountains, which belongs to a famous Japanese artist who now lives in a retirement home. There he finds a puzzling picture in the attic, which triggers a chain of strange events in which the painter and his mysterious and eccentric neighbor, whose portrait he is trying to create, become entangled.

stories

Murakami has also published several volumes of short stories , including:

Contemporary witness reports

Murakami has dealt with two disasters that hit Japan in relatively short succession in 1995. This was on the one hand the earthquake in Kobe on January 17th, on the other hand the sarin attack on the Tokyo subway on March 20th, carried out by the Ōmu Shinrikyō known as the "Aum sect" .

To come to terms with the sarin attack, Murakami conducted dozens of interviews with victims or relatives and published them in Japan in 1997 in the book Underground (Japanese ア ン ダ ー グ ラ ウ ン ドAndāguraundo ). The interviews were arranged according to the five underground lines in which the poison gas was released. Murakami deliberately held back during the interviews and wanted to let the victims have their say and give them the opportunity to express their point of view. The book was published in Germany under the title Underground War in 2002. The German edition also contains eight interviews that Murakami conducted with former members of the Ōmu Shinrikyō sect and which were initially published in Japan in the magazine Bungei Shunjū (Japanese 春秋), 1998 under the title 約束 さ れ た 場所 でYakusoku sareta basho de were published as a book.

The reason for the publication of the book Underground War in Germany were the events of September 11, 2001 , which prompted Murakami to write a letter to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, addressed to its German readers. It said, “ I wrote a book about the poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway. It gave me a strong impression of the great danger terrorism poses to modern society. "

The volume of short stories After the Quake (Japanese 神 の 子 ど も た ち は み な 踊 るKami no Kodomo-tachi wa Mina Odoru; 2001, German 2003) deals with both the poison gas attack and the earthquake in six short stories.

What I'm talking about when I talk about running

The Japanese original edition was published in 2007 under the title Hashiru koto ni tsuite kataru toki ni boku no kataru koto (Japanese 走 る こ と に つ い て 語 る と き き に 僕 の 語 る こ と) by Bungei Shunjū , Tokyo .

In this book, Murakami tells about his lifestyle from bar owner in Tokyo to successful author. He describes how he came to the decision to write a book and why he has since become a relentless marathon and long-distance runner, who can draw literary strength from his urge to run. At the same time he lists his most important written work as well as his sporting highlights. He only briefly mentions his wife as the person who prepares his food and usually waits for him at the finish line.

Dispute over translations into German

Murakami was initially translated from Japanese by Annelie Ortmanns-Suzuki and Jürgen Stalph, Sabine Mangold and Nora Bierich. Later his works were translated from American English by Giovanni and Ditte Bandini (with the consent of the author, see), a process that is more cost-effective than a direct translation from Japanese into German. After the loose language of the sexual scenes in Dangerous Beloved in the ZDF program The Literary Quartet had been heatedly discussed ( see above ), the DuMont publishing house decided to only translate directly from Japanese. Since then, most of the works have been translated by Ursula Gräfe .

Literature and film adaptations

filming

Works

Anthologies

  • Birthday Stories - Selected and introduced by Haruki Murakami. including the author 's Birthday Girl short story for this anthology . DuMont Literature and Art, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8321-7897-X .

literature

  • Jay Rubin : Murakami and the Melody of Life - An Author's Story . 2004, ISBN 3-8321-7870-8 .
  • Olaf Schiedges: The spatial planning in selected novels by the Japanese writer Murakami Haruki . Ergon-Verlag, Würzburg 2016 ISBN 978-3-95650-222-4 .
  • Frauke Schlieckau: The utopia of love in Haruki Murakami. In: Walter Delabar, Frauke Schlieckau (Ed.): Bluescreen. Visions, dreams, nightmares and reflections of the fantastic and utopian. Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-89528-769-5 , pp. 274-284.
  • Michael Seats: Murakami Haruki: the simulacrum in contemporary Japanese culture. 2006, ISBN 0-7391-0785-2 .
  • Matthew Stretcher: Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. 2002, ISBN 0-8264-5239-6 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Haruki Murakami  - Quotes
Commons : Murakami Haruki  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theo Tait: Dreams of cats . In: The Sunday Telegraph . January 16, 2005.
  2. ↑ Steven Poole: Tunnel Vision. In: The Guardian . May 27, 2000.
  3. ^ The complete review on Haruki Murakami , accessed September 30, 2009.
  4. ↑ Sam Anderson: The fierce imagination of Haruki Murakami. In: The New York Times Magazine. October 21, 2011, accessed February 23, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Yoko Ono: Haruki Murakami. Time, April 16, 2015, accessed May 3, 2015 .
  6. ^ Radio Praha : Haruki Murakami receives Franz Kafka Prize
  7. ↑ Honorary Members: Haruki Murakami. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 16, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Only love tastes better than beer. In: Spiegel online. June 1, 2015.
  9. ↑ Simone Hamm: Murakami newly translated: softer, rounder, less flippant. In: Deutschlandfunk book market. January 27, 2014, accessed June 21, 2017 (with text examples); see. also a similarly judging short review in Münchner Merkur on September 9, 2013.
  10. ^ Announcement for Die Chroniken des Herr Aufziehvogel at Dumont Buchverlag
  11. ^ Review by Lisette Gebhardt in the FAZ from June 25, 2009
  12. ^ Mangold in the translator database of the VdÜ , 2019
  13. ↑ Bierich in the translator database of the VdÜ, 2019
  14. ^ Bandini in the translator database of the VdÜ, 2019
  15. ^ Herbert Worm: The business of Mister Murakami. August 23, 2000. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  16. ↑ Harald Martenstein: Growing up is death . In: Tagesspiegel
  17. ↑ Dream On - Haruki Murakami, The Bakery Raids. Review by Katrin Schumacher in Deutschlandradio Kultur on July 10, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Murakami, Haruki
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 村上 春樹
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese author
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Kyoto