Who is Haruki Murakami?
This isn’t a question. This is an answer. I’m on Jeopardy. To my left and right are high-brow brainiacs; I’m in the middle. I might be draped in velvet. My finger is hovering over the clicker trigger thing. And I hear it…the only question I will get right that night…to win the game… “This man is at the top of Katy Maslow’s Top Five Favorite Authors of All Time list…” And yes, I click my clicker trigger thing and Mr. Trebek says my name in that suspenseful way, and I say… “Who is…Haruki Murakami?” Ding-ding-ding! The game show girls come out spinning brand new shiny things and they’re oohing and aahing and I’m being congratulated… And then the cat is licking my face. And I’m up. That is what reading a Haruki Murakami book is like. It’s exciting. There’s suspense, surprise, and enough bizarre encounters to last a lifetime. Reading Murakami is like dreaming about reality, or finally figuring out your reality is a dream. Or both. It’s important for me to point out that while Haruki Murakam
Haruki Murakami, born in 1949, is a well known Japanese author and translator, often criticized by the Japanese literary establishment for the popularity of his work. Murakami’s work is heavily influenced by Western authors such as Raymond Chandler, Richard Brautigan, and Kurt Vonnegut. His writing style is characterized by surrealism, wistful characters, and flowing language, a marked contrast to traditional Japanese work, which focuses on the elegant use of words and language and is therefore sometimes stiff and compositionally awkward, especially in translation. Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, but he lived most of his childhood in Kobe. His parents were professors of Japanese literature, and he grew up reading Western authors. His work is heavily influenced by his extensive readings outside the genre of Japanese literature. Haruki Murakami has lived a varied and active life. He studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife. Later, he opened the first jazz bar
He is perhaps the most successful and influential cult author in the world today. His books are like Japanese food — a mix of the delicate, the deliberately bland and the curiously exotic. Reading Murakami could change your brain. His world-view has inspired Sofia Coppola, the author David Mitchell and American bands such as the Flaming Lips. He is a recipient of the Franz Kafka prize, has honorary degrees from Princeton and Liège, and is tipped for the Nobel prize for literature.
