Haruki Murakami, born in 1949, is 72 years old this year.

This year, he once again passed the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In early October, as soon as the results of the Nobel Prize were announced, many old Murakami readers could not help but feel sorry for him while posting ridicules.

But what about Murakami?

He keeps his pace.

During the years of "accompanying", he was actually very busy: as a literary translator, translating literary works (on the day "First Person Singular" was released in Japan, Murakami Translated Grace Paley's three short stories were also officially launched); as a DJ Recorded his own radio program (Murakami RADIO started in August 2018, and currently has 29 episodes); even started a live broadcast-Murakami JAM online live program, once invited musicians such as Ono Lisa to participate.

Haruki Murakami's "Return to Original Heart"

　　More importantly, Haruki Murakami has been writing novels.

In the winter of 2021, Haruki Murakami's latest collection of short stories, "First-person Singular", was published. The simplified Chinese version was produced by Wenji and will be available online on November 18.

8 first-person narrative novels, recreating the Murakami-style fantasy youth story.

This is a new collection of short stories published 6 years after Murakami’s previous short story "Men Without Women", and it is also the first novel published 3 years after his last novel "Assassination of the Knight Commander" work.

All the works in the novel are narrated from the first-person perspective, which can be regarded as the work of Haruki Murakami's "return to the original heart".

　　The 8 short articles included in "First Person Singular" were all written between 2018 and 2020. The first 7 articles were published in "Literature World" magazine, and the last article of the same name was written by Murakami specifically for the new book.

The English versions of "Butter", "With the Beatles" and "The Confession of Shinagawa Monkey" were published in the famous American magazine "The New Yorker".

"The New Yorker" has published works by famous artists such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

Eight novels are all around the theme of "memory"

　　In the eight novels, "Stone Pillow" recalls the accidental emotional exchanges between a literary girl who met a part-time job in college.

"Butter" writes about inexplicable questions that cannot be explained in life, is illogical but disturbs the soul, and is divorced from reality.

Murakami, who loves jazz music, also wrote the plausible and illusory musical novel "Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova". In the story, the writer created a fictional album, but this resulted in a strange connection between dreams and the real world.

"With the Beatles" has the same name as the Beatles' album. It is a chronicle of first love youth full of summer flavor and rock music... It is worth noting "Yakult Swallows Poems", in addition to being filled with baseball His love, combined with poetry and prose genre, also reveals his childhood memories with his parents again after "Abandoned Cat".

　　In "First Person Singular", there are traces of Murakami's placement of memory and reconciliation with time, almost all around the theme of "memory".

For example, accepting "grow old"-"In a blink of an eye, people will grow old. This is incredible (perhaps nothing incredible). Our bodies are constantly heading for irreversible destruction. Close our eyes and open them again after a while. , It will be clear that many things have disappeared"; such as accepting "uncontrollable things"-"In our lives, sometimes things like this happen, which are unexplainable and illogical, but only deeply disturbed. Our hearts. At this time, there is probably nothing but thinking about nothing, just closing your eyes and letting everything pass, just like getting out of a huge wave."

　　The eight wonderful short stories with different themes and perspectives can be said to be Haruki Murakami, who has entered the year when he wants to do what he wants, and looks back on the theme of life, love and death.

Combining short songs, essays, music and novels, Murakami's writing is unconstrained, novel in conception, and comfortable in writing. It exquisitely portrays the loneliness and helplessness of urbanites who have nowhere to resolve.

The depression of modern life is not expressed by Murakami as a catharsis of pale negative emotions, but as a kind of "so good" leisure state.

"First-person singular" is "I"

　　A person who is delusional without bounds, listening to records, watching baseball, drinking coffee, drinking bars, meeting all kinds of people, and constantly looking for those who leave without saying goodbye, is the protagonist of Murakami that we are most familiar with.

In this new work, Murakami returns to the perspective of "I" for a long time, returns to the first-person narrative, and has a strong sense of substitution.

Murakami's works "Norway's Forest", "Listen to the Wind", and "Adventure in Search of Sheep" are all written in the first person.

So, the familiar feeling is back.

What is "first-person singular"?

"The'first-person singular' is the'monocular' that cuts a piece of the world. When the incision keeps increasing and the'monocular' blends infinitely together, it will form a'compound eye'. So, I am no longer me, I am no longer myself It's me. You are no longer you..." Murakami said.

　　Cover Journalist Zhang Jie

　　Intern Li Xinyue