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Haruki Murakami
| born |
January 12, 1949
|
| gender |
male |
| place of birth |
Kyoto, Japan |
| website |
http://www.harukimurakami.com |
| genre |
Literature & Fiction
|
| influences |
[a:Raymond Carver|7363|Raymond Carver|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201118985p2/7363.jpg], [a:Kurt Vonnegut|2778055|Kurt Vonnegut|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1233193902p2/2778055.jpg], [a:Richard Brautigan|7970|Richard Brautigan|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1270930283p2/7970.jpg], [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg], [a:Fyodor Dostoevsky|3137322|Fyodor Dostoyevsky|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1321216041p2/3137322.jpg], |
about this author
Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. His work has been described by the Virginia Quarterly Review as "easily accessible, yet profoundly complex." Critics suggest his work draws from film noir and contains elements of magical realism.
Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers by his Western influences.
Murakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe in Norwegian Wood, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the coffeehouse (jazz bar, in the evening) "Peter Cat" in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife[10] (1974-1981).
Many of his novels have themes and titles that invoke classical music, such as the three books making up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini's opera), Bird as Prophet (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann usually known in English as The Prophet Bird), and The Bird-Catcher (a character in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: Dance, Dance, Dance (after The Dells' song, although it is widely thought it was titled after the Beach Boys tune), Norwegian Wood (after The Beatles' song) and South of the Border, West of the Sun (the first part being the title of a song by Nat King Cole).
Murakami is a keen marathon runner and triathlete, although he did not start running until he was 33 years old. On June 23, 1996, he completed his first ultramarathon, a 100-kilometer race around Lake Saroma in Hokkaido, Japan. He discusses his relationship with running in his 2008 work What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
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