The 71-year-old famous writer Haruki Murakami's short story collection "First Person Singular" was published by Bunji Books Hanagi Publishing House in November 2021. As the publicity introduced, this is the second time after the short story collection "Men Without Women" that haruki Murakami has published a new work after 6 years, and after 3 years after the novel "Assassination of the Knight Commander".
To be honest, I haven't read Murakami's works. As a pseudo-book fan, I believe that I will be scorned by many readers, and I have not even read the works of Haruki Murakami.
That would put me to shame. Because I, who have not read a few books, I am very familiar with the name Haruki Murakami. The reason is that the Internet is full of murakami golden sentences, writing philosophy and love, and what I admire most is that I have seen many stories about his running.
Haruki Murakami began running in the fall of 1982 and has been running for decades to this day. For the matter of running, most people will give up running because of many small reasons such as "today is too busy to run, do not run", "today is not in a good mood, do not want to run" and many other small reasons as an excuse. But Haruki Murakami said: Because I don't want to run, I have to go for a run. Because he has never been "lazy" once, he has persisted to this day.
Today, Murakami is 71 years old. When "First Person Singular" was published, The Paper published a book review on November 18 titled "70-year-old Haruki Murakami Writes "First-Person Singular", as If He "Never Grew Old"", carefully analyzing the unique features of the book and his nostalgia for youth.
I was also amazed that a well-known 70-year-old writer could maintain such a great enthusiasm and deep insight into the subject of youth. As the author puts it: "Once again, standing in the original position, taking on a new challenge". This kind of courage and motivation I think comes from running day after day, and exercise is a good medicine for maintaining youth. Most importantly, this new challenge seems to be coming very well.
Once the book was published, it ranked first in sales on Amazon and Dangdang, which should be a natural thing.
The first-person singular is on Amazon's youth fiction sales charts
The first-person singular is ranked in the sales of Dangdang.com
Tens of thousands of tree fans in China have been looking forward to his return. The publication of the book is highly anticipated, as one netizen commented:
Curious, I searched the book, only to find the same popular author: William Somerset Maugham's 2014 First-Person Singular, a collection of six novels based on the characters in their lives.
From the title to the book structure is similar, even the same. As a well-known writer, I don't think I would know the book, but still use the same title, which makes me a little puzzled, and even think that it is a flaw in the limited level of translation.
Maugham's First-Person Singular contains six stories, and Chastity is an unexpected love story in which the author is indirectly involved, involving infidelity and death. "The Whole Dozen" tells the story of a man who regards marrying a whole dozen wives as a life pursuit. "Unpredictable Human Nature" depicts the unrequited love of an infatuated man. "Jane" portrays Jane, a woman who is middle-aged but suddenly charming. "A Foreign Land" tells the life of a Jewish family who immigrated to England and the tragedy of a young man's life. "A Stroke of Genius" tells the story of a female writer who regains inspiration after experiencing the blow of her husband's departure.
Murakami's "First-Person Singular" contains a total of 8 novels, and "On the Stone Pillow" recalls the accidental emotional exchanges with literary girls who met her part-time job in college. "Cream" writes questions that cannot be explained in life, illogical but disturbs the mind, and is divorced from reality, which is intriguing. The writer of the music report in the story of Charlie Parker playing Posanova fictionalizes a fantasy album, but thus derives a strange connection between the dream and the real world. "With the Beatles" is a chronicle of first love youth full of the summer atmosphere and rock music of the past. The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection reveals memories of his life with his parents as a teenager. "The Confession of the Shinagawa Monkey" reveals the mystery of the Shinagawa monkey's life and the ultimate love affair, the ultimate loneliness. "First Person Singular" is an encounter that questions the self in a bar on a full moon on a spring night, and the story ends but the afterglow is not over, as if falling into the dark bar space, opening a sleepless night of drunkenness with the novel.
Both are masters in emotional narrative, the same title, the same structure, the same theme, appearing in the world literary world, presumably to have a judgment of no distinction. In my opinion, science knows no borders, and so does literature. The author's ability to explore the light of humanity through poignant stories can be called superior.
May Murakami continue to reach new heights in the land of literature, as he never stops walking.
Are you considering following Iron Eye Book Bar's blog with others? It's been an interesting discovery of my week, usually involving psychology, technology, health, philosophy, and other book content that piqued my interest. And of course my new articles and notes.