Haruki Murakami (born January 12, 1949,Kyōto, Japan) is a Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and translator whose deeply imaginative and oftenambiguous books became international bestsellers. His famous works include thenovelsHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985),Norwegian Wood (1987), andThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95).

Background and influences

Murakami’s parents taughtJapanese literature, and they encouraged their son’s reading, especially the classic works of great Japanese authors. While growing up, however, Murakami loved thehard-boiled detective fiction of Western writers, in particularRaymond Chandler. Other major influences includedFranz Kafka,Fyodor Dostoyevsky, andF. Scott Fitzgerald. Of the latter writer’sThe Great Gatsby (1925), Murakamionce said, “Had it not been for Fitzgerald’snovel, I would not be writing the kind ofliterature I am today (indeed, it is possible that I would not be writing at all, although that is neither here or there).”

Education, a baseball-induced epiphany, and writing his first novel

Murakami studied Greek drama atWaseda University inTokyo. During his studies he met another student, Yoko Takahashi, whom he married in 1971. Rejecting a “company life” in which they would spend long hours in an office, he and his wife opened ajazz café in the suburbs ofTokyo in 1974. The following year Murakami graduated from Waseda, having spent seven years earning his diploma. In 1978 Murakami was watching abaseball game one day in Tokyo when he had anepiphany that he has said changed his life. He described the moment in the introduction to one of his works published in 2015:

In the bottom of the first inning, [Dave] Hilton slammed [Yoshiro] Sotokoba’s first pitch into left field for a clean double. The satisfying crack when the bat met the ball resounded throughout Jingu Stadium. Scattered applause rose around me. In that instant, for no reason and on no grounds whatsoever, the thought suddenly struck me:I think I can write a novel.

He began writing in the evenings after work, completing his first novel,Kaze no uta o kike (1979;Hear the Wind Sing; film 1980), in about six months. The book won a prize for best fiction by a new writer.

Writing style

From the start Murakami’s writing was characterized by images and events that the author himself found difficult to explain but which seemed to come from the inner recesses of his memory. Some have argued that thisambiguity, far from being off-putting, was one reason for his popularity with readers, especially young ones, who were bored with the self-confessions that formed the mainstream of contemporary Japanese literature. His perceived lack of a political orintellectual stance irritated “serious” authors (such asŌe Kenzaburō), who dismissed Murakami’s early writings as being no more than entertainment.

Works

Murakami then published1973-nen no pinbōru (1980;Pinball, 1973) andHitsuji o meguru bōken (1982;A Wild Sheep Chase), novels that feature the narrator ofHear the Wind Sing and his friend, known as “the Rat.” Those first three novelsconstituted a loose trilogy.A Wild Sheep Chase became his first major international success. (Hear the Wind Sing andPinball, 1973, which had previously been translated intoEnglish in a limited run, were reissued in English asWind/Pinball in 2015.) The narrator and the Rat also appeared in Murakami’s next important novel,Sekai no owari to hādoboirudo wandārando (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World), a fantasy that was successful with the public and won the prestigious Tanizaki Prize.

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Murakami adopted a more straightforward style for the coming-of-age novelNoruwei no mori (Norwegian Wood; film 2010), which sold millions of copies in Japan and firmly established him as a literary celebrity. He then returned to the bizarremilieu of his earlier trilogy withDansu Dansu Dansu (1988;Dance Dance Dance).

Disaffected by the social climate inJapan and by his growing fame, Murakami sojourned inEurope for several years in the late 1980s, and in 1991 he moved to theUnited States. While teaching atPrinceton University (1991–93) andTufts University (1993–95), Murakami wrote one of his most ambitious novels,Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle). The narrative represents a departure from his usual themes: it is devoted in part to depicting Japanese militarism on the Asian continent as a nightmare.

In 1995 Murakami returned to Japan, prompted by theKōbe earthquake and by thesarin gas attack carried out by theAUM Shinrikyo religious sect on a Tokyo subway. The two deadly events subsequently served as inspiration for his work.Andāguraundo (1997;Underground) is a nonfiction account of the subway attack, andKami no kodomo-tachi wa mina odoru (2000;After the Quake) is a collection of six short stories that explores the psychological effects of theearthquake on residents of Japan.

The novelSupūtoniku no koibito (1999;Sputnik Sweetheart) probes the nature of love as it tells the story of the disappearance of Sumire, a young novelist. Subsequent novels includedUmibe no Kafuka (2002;Kafka on the Shore) andAfutā dāku (2004;After Dark).1Q84 (2009), its title a reference toGeorge Orwell’sNineteen Eighty-four (1949), shifts between two characters as they navigate an alternate reality of their own making; the book’s dystopian themes range from theSeptember 11 attacks to vigilantejustice.Shikisai o motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to, kare no junrei no toshi (2013;Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage) delves into a young man’sexistential quandaries, precipitated by his ejection from a circle of friends.

Murakami explored art andloneliness in his 14th novel,Kishidanchō goroshi (2017;Killing Commendatore), about a painter in the midst of marital difficulties whose life takes a bizarre turn after he moves into the house of another artist. His novelMachi to sono futashikana kabe (The City and Its Uncertain Walls), which is based on ashort story he published in 1980, was released in 2023. Bearing many similarities toHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, it follows a lonely, middle-aged man as he sets on asurreal journey to a strange town in the mountains to find his first love.

The short-story collectionsThe Elephant Vanishes (1993),Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2006),Men Without Women (2017), andFirst Person Singular (2021) translate Murakami’s stories into English. Hismemoir,Hashiru koto ni tsuite kataru toki ni boku no kataru koto (2007;What I Talk About When I Talk About Running), centers on his love formarathon running.

Work as translator and film adaptations

An experienced translator ofAmerican literature, Murakami also published editions inJapanese of works byRaymond Carver,Paul Theroux,Truman Capote,Ursula K. Le Guin, andJ.D. Salinger. A number of Murakami’s works have been adapted into films, the most notable of which is theAcademy Award-nominatedDrive My Car (2021), a drama about a stage actor and director that is based on a story in the collectionMen Without Women.