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2002 |
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Elliot Bay Book
Company |
How often do you experience a book that is so strange and wonderful
that it affects your dreams? Very few novels can influence the
dreams of their readers in an unadulterated way. |
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There is only one author whose work is commonly introduced to
new readers with some variation of the sentence: "I dreamed
about the characters and situations in this book the whole time
I was reading it." Clearly, even in an art form as subjective
as fiction, Haruki Murakami must be said to be on the trail
of something very important. |
Murakami is at the moment, arguably, Japan's best hope for winning
the Nobel Prize for Literature. His taut prose style and consistent
probing of important, powerful themes make him a global giant
among novelists of his own generation. His novels are incredibly
affecting and demand conversation. |
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It's not unusual to hear serious comparisons to Vladimir Nabokov
in literary discussions about Haruki Murakami's body of work.
How is it possible that a novelist could enjoy critical and
popular appeal in Japan and America? And how should a reader
begin to explore his strange, beautiful books? |
The first, and some would say most daunting, challenge for an
American reader approaching the canon of an international author
is the issue of translation. Many translations are at best difficult,
at worst debilitating. American readers of Murakami should harbor
no such fears.
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continue reading at |
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http://www.elliottbaybook.com/pubs/bknts/author.jsp |
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