Murakami Haruki was born in Kyoto in 1949 but spent most of his youth in Kobe. Both his parents taught Japanese literature.
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 for his Western influences.
Murakami studied theater arts at Waseda University in Tokyo. His first job was in 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, Yoko. They ran the bar from 1974 until 1982.
Many of his novels have musical themes and titles referring to classical music, for example, the three books comprising The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini's orchestral overture), Bird as Prophet (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann), and The Bird-Catcher (a protagonist in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: Dance, Dance, Dance (from The Beach Boys), 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).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
RELATED LINKS
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 for his Western influences.
Murakami studied theater arts at Waseda University in Tokyo. His first job was in 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, Yoko. They ran the bar from 1974 until 1982.
Many of his novels have musical themes and titles referring to classical music, for example, the three books comprising The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini's orchestral overture), Bird as Prophet (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann), and The Bird-Catcher (a protagonist in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: Dance, Dance, Dance (from The Beach Boys), 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).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Hear The Wind Sing (1979)
- Pinball, 1973 (1980)
- A Wild Sheep Chase (1982)
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World (1985)
- Norwegian Wood (1987)
- Dance Dance Dance (1988)
- South Of The Border, West Of The Sun (1992)
- The Elephant Vanishes (1993) [short stories]
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1995)
- Underground (1998) [journalism]
- Sputnik Sweetheart (1999)
- After The Quake (2000) [short stories]
- Kafka On The Shore (2002)
- After Dark (2004)
- Strange Tales From Tokyo (2005)
- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2006) [short stories]
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007) [non-fiction]
RELATED LINKS