Haruki Murakami (Kyoto, 74 years old) arrived at the Jovellanos Theater in Gijón this Wednesday to the applause of the fans gathered at the door. He wore trainers and running shoes. because Murakami is not only a writer, but also a well-known marathon runner. The little Japanese man walks light and fragile, as if gravity were pulling him less than the others, and he seems a little overwhelmed. In addition to his work as a writer and runner, he is a self-confessed shy person who has a certain aversion to public and media appearances. Don’t waste it. That’s why the opportunity to listen to him in Gijón was very attractive for the thousand members of 93 reading clubs of public libraries who took part in the event, mostly women and moderated by EL PAÍS journalist Berna González Harbour. The Japanese author, perennial Nobel Prize candidate, is this year’s winner of the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature.
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“The food here is great,” was his first response to a journalist’s question about his stay in Asturias. He then delved into specific facets of his work. “The writer’s task is to penetrate into the depths of consciousness,” he explained. “If consciousness is a house with its different floors, the author must go down not to the basement, but to the second basement.” In the author’s opinion, this deepening into human nature explains why his work appeals to young and old, men and women Women and people from different cultures are very well received. Deep down, deep down, in that second basement, we are all very similar.
Murakami has a deep voice and, despite his shyness, a certain comedic touch, which is infinitely enhanced by the chatty simultaneous translator in the headphones. In fact, there was constant hilarity in the audience, not always because of what the Japanese said, but because of the impudence of the translation, at an event that was otherwise full of technical setbacks. It’s worth asking whether the author understood the reason for so much laughter, when often the message wasn’t that funny but he seemed comfortable in the role. Of course, as he explained, “a sense of humor is more important in my work than loneliness or heartbreak.” Many never expected that meeting Murakami (and his translator) would be so much fun.
Murakami, author of more than 20 novels, several dozen short stories and more than half a dozen essays, was criticized for incorporating too many elements of Western culture into his work, which was detrimental to Japanese tradition and not just popular culture, as certain Songs (he has a passion for jazz; before writing he ran a jazz club), but also a concern for the individual conscience, in which the individualistic West contrasts with the communal East. His first Western reading, Red and Black, by Stendhal. And he read Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov four times. “I don’t think there are many people who can say that,” he noted. And he doesn’t like thick books.
“My father was a professor of Japanese literature, and my mother was too until she got married,” Murakami explained, “so I distanced myself from Japanese literature.” But I am Japanese, I live in Japan, I write in Japanese and I eat Japanese food. Now that my style is solidified, I am no longer criticized for it.” A style in which the author emphasized the “beauty of rhythm and melody” in response to the doubts of the reading clubs, who answered their questions solemnly and to frequent applause, which was interrupted by recurring laughter.
When he was 29 years old, Murakami wrote his first novel. “It was something that fell from the sky. When I attended a baseball game this spring, I never thought I could write something like this. And that’s how it’s always been and that’s how I keep going and waiting for things to keep falling from the sky,” he said, spreading his arms toward the zenith to reflect his inspiration to write. Then there are the races. “When I go jogging, I try not to think about anything and clear my head, which is not easy. But writing, especially long novels, is physically demanding. “They never believe me when I say it,” he added.
Murakami combines a simple narrative, laconic dialogues with environments in which magical realism is intertwined with science fiction and themes such as loneliness, isolation, the search for identity or love. The special literary cocktail from the novel “Tokyo Blues”. Norwegian Wood (Tusquets), written in 1987, fascinated readers around the world, although it was published in Spain in 2005. “I like authors like García Márquez, but I don’t like isms. So I think I’m more into Murakaism than magical realism. I have no teachers, no students. Thats only me. “It’s my business,” he concluded. To the inexhaustible laughter of the audience.
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