Haruki Murakami

Japanese novelist, short fiction writer, and translator.

• Born: January 12, 1949
• Place of Birth: Kyōto, Japan

Biography

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan, on January 12, 1949. He spent most of his childhood in the city of Kobe. His father, a Buddhist priest, and his mother both taught Japanese literature. Murakami did not share his parents’ literary tastes, however, and he developed an affinity for American literature as a young man; his own writing reflects his creative divergence from traditional Japanese literature. He attended Waseda University in Tokyo and studied drama. He met his wife, Yoko, during his years at the university. To earn money, he worked in a record store and then opened a jazz bar called Peter Cat in Tokyo. He wrote his first novel, Kaze no uta o kike (1979; Hear the Wind Sing, 1987), during his free time in the evenings after working at the bar. He submitted it to a literary contest, and it won the Gunzou Literary Prize for budding authors. His success inspired him to continue writing.

Murakami’s wildly eccentric, postmodern novels, which have been translated into more than thirty languages, heralded the rise of a bold new era in Japanese literature. His novel Hitsuji o meguru bōken (1982; A Wild Sheep Chase, 1987) achieved international acclaim; it encompassed several genres, including comedy, fantasy, and mystery. It was his first venture into straight realism, his 1987 novel Norwegian Wood, that catapulted his literary fame to new heights. His allegorical novel Sekai no owari to hadoboirudo wandarando (1985; The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, 1991), won the Tanizaki Prize. His other novels include Dansu, dansu, dansu (1988; Dance, Dance, Dance, 1993), Nejimaki tori kuronikuru (1994-1995; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1997), Shikisai o motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to kare no junrei no toshi (2013; Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, 2014),

Machi to sono futashika na kabe (2023; The City and Its Uncertain Walls, 2023).

Murakami has also written numerous short stories and many of these were collected in an English-language translation, The Elephant Vanishes (1993). His nonfiction book Andaguraundo (1997; Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, 2000) grew out of his interviews with survivors of the Aum Shinrikyo cult’s sarin gas attack in a Tokyo subway in 1995.

Over his thirty-plus year career, Murakami has continued to produce a steady stream of internationally loved novels that have been translated into dozens of languages. In 2002, he released his well-received novel Kafka on the Shore (published in English in 2005). His subsequent major works of fiction would be accurately described as tomes. 1Q84, described by the Guardian as an epic romance, was published in three volumes in Japan between 2009 and 2010, and in English in 2011 in a volume that numbered over nine hundred pages. The book was highly anticipated and was an instant bestseller. His next novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, published in 2013 in Japan and the following year in English, was also a bestseller and well-received by readers and critics alike. Murakami's fame is such that his readers around the world attend midnight release parties for his new books and stand in long lines to purchase new copies.

Further awards for the modest writer include the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, a Danish award revered as one of the biggest literary awards in the world. In 2018, he received the America Award in Literature and in 2022, a Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, a monetarily lucrative award for his literary works. He was also honored by architect Kengo Kuma with the design and dedication of the Waseda University International House of Literature, which opened in October 2021. Murakami donated over three thousand of his works to the library. In 2023, Maruki was named as a recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature. In 2024, he was granted the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

In addition to his original works, Murakami has also proved an active translator. He has translated stories by several prominent American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver, and Truman Capote, into Japanese. In addition, he has taught courses at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, and at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and has periodically lived in many different parts of the world to escape his fame in Japan. Murakami married his wife, Yoko, in 1971. He has retained a strictly regimented schedule throughout his writing career that includes waking up at 4 a.m., writing for six to eight hours, and then running or swimming long distances.

Author Works

Long Fiction:

Kaze no uta o kike, 1979 (Hear the Wind Sing, 1987)

1973: Nen no pinbōru, 1980 (Pinball, 1973, 1985)

Hitsuji o meguru bōken, 1982 (A Wild Sheep Chase, 1989)

Sekai no owari to hādoboirudo wandārando, 1985 (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, 1991)

Noruwei no mori, 1987 (Norwegian Wood, 2000)

Dansu dansu dansu, 1988 (Dance, Dance, Dance, 1993)

Kokkyō no minami, taiyō no nishi, 1992 (South of the Border, West of the Sun, 1999)

Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru, 1994-1995 (3 volumes; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1997)

Supūtoniku no koibito, 1999 (Sputnik Sweetheart, 2001)

Umibe no Kafuka, 2002 (Kafka on the Shore, 2005)

Afutādāku, 2004 (After Dark, 2007)

Ichi kyū hachi yon, 2009 (1Q84, 2011)

Shikisai o motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to kare no junrei no toshi, 2013 (Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, 2014)

Machi to sono futashika na kabe, 2023 (The City and Its Uncertain Walls), 2023

Nonfiction:

Andaguraundo, 1997 (Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, 2000)

Taira no Masakado : chōsa to kenkyū, 2007

Hashiru koto ni tsuite kataru toki ni boku no kataru koto, 2007 (What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir, 2008)

Ozawa Seiji-san to, ongaku ni tsuite hanashi o suru, 2011 (Absolutely on Music: Conversations, 2016; with Seiji Ozawa)

Short Fiction:

Kangaru-biyori, 1983

Chugo-yuki no suro boto, 1983

Hotaru, Naya o yaku, sono-ta no tanpen, 1984

Kaiten mokuba no deddo hiito, 1985

Panya saishugeki, 1986

TV Piipuru, 1990

The Elephant Vanishes, 1993

Rekishinton no yurei, 1996

Kami no kodomotachi wa mina odoru, 2000 (After the Quake: Stories, 2002)

Tokyo Kitanshu, 2005

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, 2006

Men without Women: Stories, 2017

Children's and Young Adult Literature:

Fushigi na toshokan, 2008 (The Strange Library: 107, 2014

Edited Text:

Bāsudei sutōrīzu (Birthday Stories, 2004)

Bibliography

Anderson, Sam. “The Fierce Imagination of Haruki Murakami.” The New York Times Magazine, 21 Oct. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/the-fierce-imagination-of-haruki-murakami.html. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

"Author: Meet the man behind the works." Haruki Murakami, www.harukimurakami.com/author. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Brockes, Emma. “Haruki Murakami: ‘I Took a Gamble and Survived.’” The Guardian, 14 Oct. 2011, www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/14/haruki-murakami-1q84. Accessed16 Oct. 2024.

Murakami, Haruki. “Haruki Murakami, The Art of Fiction No. 182.” Interview by John Wray. The Paris Review, Summer 2004, www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2/haruki-murakami-the-art-of-fiction-no-182-haruki-murakami. Accessed16 Oct. 2024.

Robert, Henri. "A Library Dedicated to Haruki Murakami." Pen, 14 Dec. 2021, pen-online.com/travel/a-library-dedicated-to-haruki-murakami/. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.

Zielinksa-Elliott, Anna. “Murakami International: The Translation of a Literary Phenomenon.” Japanese Language & Literature, vol. 49, no. 1, 2015, pp. 93–107. Education Resource Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=115301226&site=eds-live. Accessed 22 June 2017.