Haruki murakami famous works

Biography of Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer and translator. Born on January 12, 1949, in Kyoto, he grew up in the port city of Kobe, where his father taught classical philology. In 1968, Murakami enrolled in the prestigious Waseda University, studying contemporary drama. Despite his lack of interest in academics, he successfully obtained a degree in modern drama. During his student years, Murakami became involved in the anti-war movement and opposed the Vietnam War.

In the 1970s, Murakami developed a strong passion for jazz. In 1974, he opened a jazz bar called "Peter Cat" in Tokyo, which he successfully managed for nearly 10 years. During this time, Murakami never considered becoming a writer. He married his high school classmate, Yoko, and led an ordinary middle-class life.

However, during a baseball game, an idea struck Murakami, and he began staying in the bar at night to write on plain paper with a fountain pen. Despite believing he lacked writing talent, his debut novel, "Listen to the Wind Sing" (1979), won the Gunzo Shinjin-sho award and gained popularity among readers, with approximately 200,000 copies sold in a year. This novel marked the first part of the "Rat Trilogy," followed by "Pinball, 1973" (1980) and "A Wild Sheep Chase" (1982).

Murakami sold his business and dedicated himself entirely to writing. Critics noted the exceptional ease and distinct rhythm present in his early works. In 1985, he published the novel "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," followed by a book of children's stories and several collections of short stories. His breakthrough work, "Norwegian Wood" (1987), written during his travels in Italy and Greece, explored complex human destinies and raised questions about sexuality and death. The novel became a worldwide sensation, selling two million copies and establishing Murakami as a widely-read contemporary author, particularly in Europe and the United States.

In 1991, Murakami moved to the United States and began teaching at Princeton University. This experience allowed him to view his homeland through a European lens, leading to a desire to write about Japanese people and Japan. In 1993, he relocated to Santa Ana, where he lectured on world literature while continuing to travel to countries such as China, Mongolia, and Russia. During his time in the United States, Murakami created several works, with the most notable being his novel "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" (1995), considered the most complex in his oeuvre.

In 2001, Murakami returned to Japan and settled in the small coastal town of Oiso with his wife. In addition to his writing career, Murakami translates classical literature, including works by Truman Capote, J.D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Irving, and Ursula K. Le Guin. He is widely known as a jazz enthusiast with a collection of 40,000 records. Murakami is also interested in baseball and triathlon, having taken up marathon running a few years ago.

In 2008, Murakami announced that he was working on a giant novel that would encompass the chaos of the world. The first part of this ambitious work, titled "1Q84," was published in 2009 and quickly sold out. His popularity remains unwavering, with critics still regarding him as an unparalleled master of words. Despite this, they note that his works have become deeper, while his prose continues to resonate with an astonishing rhythm reminiscent of the world's greatest jazz compositions.