Author
HarukiMurakami was born on January 12th 1949 in Kyoto, Japan. Murakami travelled to Europe and even stayed in the US for few years. Now he has settled down in Oiso, Kanagawa and his office is in Tokyo.
Profile
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer who can be considered as a contemporary or a classical writer.His father was a Buddhist priest. His mother and father taught Japanese literature. He was their only child and he was exposed to literature very early in life. He was also influenced by western culture and he read a wide range of books by Russian, European and American writers. Murakami specialised in drama from Waseda University. He is known as a writer but he once opened a coffee house and jazz beer. Another quirky fact about Murakami was that he is an experienced marathon runner. He was popular, sought- after writer but he was a recluse and rarely took part in public events. His works have been translated in 50 languages and they were also best-sellers. Awards came to him in every decade from 1979, the latest being ‘Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award’ in 2016. He was nominated for the ‘alternative Nobel Prize’ in 2018 but he refused it saying he did not want public focus on him and he wanted to concentrate on his work. During the COVID Lock down days he is going on radio to his fans in a programme “Stay at Home Special”.
Genre
Murakami is a surrealistic writer. There are stories of phantom sheep and the protagonist making love with the spirit of a dead person. There is an undertone of sadness in most of his worksHis heroes are hapless and they generally are on a mission. Alienation is a recurring theme in many of his novels. The missions of the protagonists end with something strange or something familiar.
Popular works by the author
The popular works of Haruki Murakami include ‘Norwegian Wood’, ‘Kafka on the Shore’, ‘A wild Sheep Chase’, ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’. Some of his short stories have been adapted to films and the novel that was made into a film was ‘Hear the Wind Sing’.
