介绍:
It was spring, when Men Without Women, the latest book of Haruki Murakami finally went on sale in China. Although this publicity-shy writer didn't come to promote his writing, it didn't stop voracious readers, most of them female, flock to bookstores to get their hands on this long-awaited collection of their literary hero.
"When I travelled in Taiwan, I spotted a guy reading this book, but at that time, it hadn't been published in Chinese mainland yet. Now I could finally get my hands on it! As far as I am concerned, many of his characters are decadent, negative and helpless, but there is always something warm and positive between the lines, (which I really like)."
"I have read around twenty books of his and loved every single one! Murakami has written a lot about young people, because he believes in the infinite possibilities of youth. For me, he seems like a constant life companion."
"I don't dig deep into his works, but I really enjoy the tone. Murakami is good at exploring daily lives. Instead of exaggerating people's random thoughts when they get bored, he collects the inward emotions of the general public and displays them naturally. He knows what we think about, which touches me deeply."
According to Yao Dongmin, editor from Shanghai Translation Publishing House, in terms of sales volume, Murakami no doubt outshines other Japanese writers. His magnum opus 'Norwegian Wood' alone, has sold nearly three million copies.
"We once conducted a survey, which turns out that Murakami's works sell best in first and second tier cities. Those readers live in economically developed and highly urbanized areas, which reflect the background settings, scenes and atmosphere of Murakami fictions."
Once a jazz bar owner, Haruki Murakami weaves a large number of musical references into his fictions, ranging from The Beatles to Ray Charles; meanwhile as a long-time resident of Europe and America, he also put ingredients from western pop culture into the setting of a modern Japan, which obscures the sense of oddity and exoticism.
As book critic Su Gengsheng explains, as Chinese people begin to enjoy the material wealth in the recent past, the narratives illustrated in Murakami novels fulfill their unflagging appetite for the chic, carefree lifestyle.
"I think his sentiment of the petty Bourgeoisie is really appealing. Things such as café, bar, jazz, and fancy clothes are pretty attractive for many readers. "
But in the eyes of the renowned translator Lin Shaohua, whose name is synonymous with Haruki Murakami in China, there is something more profound behind this Japanese writer's enduring popularity.
"I started to translate Murakami's fictions in the 1980s. Though at that time China had already opened up to the outside world for nearly ten years, we still didn't know how to encourage and respect individuality. So without any question, the colorful inner world portrayed in Murakami's novels, the modern spirit that respects individual diversity had enlightened the Chinese society at that time. With the increasing readership, a new social trend has been born. "
From the cryptic, mind-bending novel "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" to the award-winning piece "Kafka on the Shore", Haruki Murakami manipulates mundane details and uncanny mystique to explore the affinity between dream and reality, the possibility of parallel dimension, and sympathize with individual struggle and solitude.
But this perennial Nobel candidate doesn't confine himself to the compositions of adolescent frustrations.
Xu Jinlong, a scholar from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, elaborates.
"After the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo launched the subway sarin attack, he went to interview the victims. He also wrote a book 'After the Quake' dedicated to the victims of the Kobe Earthquake, which displays his humanistic concern. If a writer fails to sympathize with others or hold no compassion for those less fortunate, he or she could not be a great writer. "
Today, regarded as Wong Kar-wai in the literati world, Murakami is hailed as the guru for artistic young urbanites, who share the same confusion, solitude, and decadence with many characters in his works.
But Lin Shaohua, who has translated 41 volumes of Murakami works, warns that readers should perceive the works of their idol objectively.
"Murakami literature shows his denial and negativity towards grand narration, rationalism, mainstream and positive values, which could be considered as the limitation of this writer. After all, the society is in need of rational values and the recognition of order. His novels were inspirational for us during the 1980s and 90s. But now, when individualism is spreading, we should judge those writings skeptically. "
Accordingly, the Chinese version of Murakami's latest book, Men Without Women, has sold 180 thousand copies in two months.
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