Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words - Hardcover

Rubin, Jay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1860469868 ISBN 13: 9781860469862

Publisher: Random House UK, 2002

Synopsis

As a young man, Haruki Murakami played records and mixed drinks at his Tokyo Jazz club, Peter Cat, then wrote at the kitchen table until the sun came up. He loves music of all kinds—jazz, classical, folk, rock—and has more than six thousand records at home. And when he writes, his words have a music all their own, much of it learned from jazz. Jay Rubin, a self-confessed fan, has written a book for other fans who want to know more about this reclusive writer. He reveals the autobiographical elements in Murakami's fiction, and explains how he developed a distinctive new style in Japanese writing. In tracing Murakami's career, he uses interviews he conducted with the author between 1993 and 2001, and draws on insights and observations gathered from over ten years of collaborating with Murakami on translations of his works.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"If literature is dead, someone forgot to invite Haruki Murakami to the funeral." -- Jay Rubin

As a young man, Haruki Murakami played records and mixed drinks at his Tokyo jazz club, Peter Cat, where he wrote at the kitchen table until the sun came up. He loves music of all kinds and when he writes, his words have a music all their own, much of it learned from jazz.

Besides being the distinguished translator of Murakami's work, Professor Jay Rubin is a self-confessed fan. He has written a book for other fans who want to know more about this reclusive writer. He reveals the autobiographical elements in Murakami's fiction; explains how he developed a distinctive new style in Japanese; and how, on his return to Japan from America, he came to regard the Kobe earthquake (in which his parents' house was destroyed) and the Tokyo subway gas attack as twin manifestations of a violence lying just beneath the surface of Japanese life.

Since 1993 Rubin has been studying Murakami's writing, interviewing him, and collaborating with him in preparing his works for an English-speaking audience.

Jay Rubin is a professor of Japanese literature at Harvard University. He has translated Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, and The Elephant Vanishes.

From the Inside Flap:

Jay Rubin explains how Murakami developed a distinctive new style in Japanese writing. In tracing the reclusive writer's career, he draws on his own interviews with him, and observations gathered from ten years of collaborating with Murakami on translations of his works.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House UK
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1860469868
• ISBN 13: 9781860469862
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326