Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino are the brightest gemini stars in Japanese literature.
Haruki Murakami's works are literary, distant, and deeply influenced by Western writers, and Keigo Higashino's works are cheerful, realistic, and extremely universal.
The popularity of the two Japanese writers in China is not only because their novels are highly readable, but also because their words hit the impact of China's urbanization process.
Why do the works of Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino resonate? How has Japanese history shaped two of Japan's top "national writers"? How has their work changed? In addition to them, what other excellent Japanese writers have translated them?
At the Fourth Translation Forum hosted by Oracle, Japanese translator Lu Lingzhi, Deputy Editor of Shanghai Translation Publishing House Yao Dongmin, Deputy Director of the Historical Documentation Center of Shanghai Library Sha Qingqing, and Editor-in-Chief of Bunji Books of Motie Publishing Yu Bei discussed the phenomenon of Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino in the Chinese world.
✎ Organize | Zhao Wanxi
✎ Edit | Cheng late
Haruki Murakami, not just "Norwegian Forest"
Yu Hoku: Ask the three teachers to share their favorite works by Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino, and then briefly explain the reasons why you like these works.
Sha Qingqing: Personally, I was probably most impressed by "Norwegian Forest", because this is his famous work, and it is also the first book I read about him. Compared with some of Murakami's novels, I also like to read some of his short stories, including some of his essays, essay collections, and Haruki Murakami is also a radio anchor, and he has also published some books on related topics, which are quite interesting to read, the articles are very short, and it is very cute to read.
Through these books, I was able to learn about some aspects of Japanese society, and I was able to learn more about him as a person. Because Murakami is a person who is reluctant to be interviewed by the media, but he sometimes reveals his upbringing through some prose.
Cover of the original Japanese version of Norwegian Forest. /Wikipedia
Yao Dongmin: When I was in college, Haruki Murakami began to be popular in China, and the most concerned at that time was definitely "Norwegian Forest", some boys and girls talked to each other, and they were embarrassed to express it directly, they might buy a copy of "Norwegian Forest" and give it to each other, with a small note or something.
But when I later became Murakami's editor and learned a little more about him, I learned that "Norwegian Forest" was not his favorite work, because "Norwegian Forest" was actually a juvenile growth novel, an atypical work of his.
But after this work came out, he suddenly became popular in Japan, which Murakami himself did not expect, and even for a while, this popularity caused him a lot of pressure, causing him to hide overseas for a long time after that, which led to some essays he wrote overseas.
His novels are definitely going to be read, because this is his masterpiece as a novelist, and I also prefer his short stories and essays. Reading his essays, unlike reading his novels, everyone will feel that Murakami is impenetrable, and some of the metaphorical and symbolic things in his works cannot be understood after you read them, and you can never find a very clear explanation. But in his essays, some of his small humor, even black humor, are vividly reflected, in the essay you can see a very lifelike, three-dimensional and vivid image of Murakami.
Haruki Murakami is a famous modern Japanese novelist.
In fact, many of his long works are born out of short stories, like he has a short story collection, the Japanese name is literally translated as "Firefly, Burning Warehouse and Others", when published in Chinese mainland and Taiwan, perhaps for simplicity, the name was changed to "Firefly", "Firefly" is actually the predecessor of "Norwegian Forest". Many of his short stories are actually accumulating power for his long stories, and if you want to capture his creative trajectory, you can find them in the short stories, which is why I like his short stories.
"Men Without Women" is also very interesting, although it is relatively short, but it seems that each article has some ingenuity. One of them, "Driving My Car", was also made into a movie, which may be released this summer, and many directors also started from short stories when discovering the fun and cuteness of Murakami's works, including the previous "Burning Barn", which was later made into the movie "Burning", which shined in Cannes and won the highest score in the history of Cannes Film, which shows the charm of his short stories.
Yu Kita: In fact, Higashino's writing genre also has essays, autobiographies and other non-speculative books, for example, he has a novel that was voted as "Ten Masterpieces of Keigo Higashino" by Japanese readers, called "Letter", that novel is not a speculative novel, the core of the novel is about discrimination.
The protagonist of the story is a brother who are dependent on each other, his parents died early, the brother went to the home of a rich old lady to steal in order to raise tuition for his brother, when the theft was finished, he suddenly found a bag of chestnuts on the sofa, he remembered that his brother especially liked to eat chestnuts, when he took chestnuts, he was discovered by the old lady, he killed the old lady in a hurry, and then he went to prison, but his brother also carried the label of the murderer's relatives, whether it was in his education, love, or even work, he was discriminated against.
This novel is not a mystery novel, but I would like to recommend this novel to you, Keigo Higashino does not use tricks and reasoning in this novel, but he writes about human feelings.
The Letter
[Japanese] By Keigo Higashino, translated by Zhao Jiang
Beijing United Publishing Company, 2020-10
Yao Dongmin: When we mention Haruki Murakami, we inevitably talk about Keigo Higashino, who, like the Gemini stars of the Japanese literary world, are the two Japanese writers who are most concerned outside the Japanese literary world today.
What is the difference between Murakami and Higashino? Murakami is always in a state of seclusion, and the dragon sees the head and does not see the end, as if he avoids appearing in front of people. When we came into contact with the Japanese publishing house, their editor would say that Higashino Sensei was a very brash person, and every time he would ask the editor to come out to eat and drink together, and he would be drunk. His current copyright price is also very high, higher than Murakami's, but Higashino himself does not care very much, and he has basically no idea how much wealth he has.
I think that any writer or one of his works can be a big fire or a long red in China, it has the background of the times, and his fire in Japan and fire in China are inseparable from the times and social development of the two countries.
The fire of "Norwegian Forest" was also a period when "Tokyo Love Story" was particularly popular in the country. "Tokyo Love Story" is about some of the things that happen after a rural youth comes to Tokyo, in fact, it is also his identity change from a rural youth to an urban youth, and "Norwegian Forest" is a similar story, the protagonist comes from outside Tokyo to study.
In connection with this, in fact, "Norwegian Forest" and "Tokyo Love Story" are also the process of rapid urbanization in our country when they are relatively popular in China. After the rapid economic development, the domestic readers' cognition of materials and some so-called urbanization are constantly deepening, which is consistent with many backgrounds in the works, so there is a success in the works. I think Higashino is the same, he is at this stage.
Stills from 1991 Tokyo Love Story.
Haruki Murakami will grow old, but there will always be young readers
Yu Bei: We just talked about our favorite works, and then we will talk about a question, why are they the hottest Japanese writers? Because Today, Mr. Sha analyzes these two writers from the perspective of Japanese history and social culture, so I would like to ask Mr. Sha to talk about them first.
Sha Qingqing: Murakami's novels can basically be said to be allegorical novels. Even if some of the content involves his own growth experience, the realistic mood is relatively light, but even in this case, you can also read some historical sense and traces of the times from some of his creative works.
Because Murakami was born in 1949, his youth coincided with the 1960s, when Japanese society was in turmoil, when Japan was about to sign a new round of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty with the United States, which triggered a lot of social struggles (security struggles) in Japan.
At that time, left-wing thought was the mainstream of Japanese and Western society, and everyone wanted to rebel, and everyone felt that revolution should be made. In order to oppose the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the concomitant Vietnam War, there were many protests and student movements in Japanese society, and until 1969, there was also the "Todai Yasuda Lecture Hall Incident", which caused great turmoil at that time. These basically cover the youth of the village.
A march against the Security Treaty in front of the Japanese Diet in 1960. /Wikipedia
If you look at his early works, like Norwegian Woods, you'll vaguely feel these traces, but of course he won't make it very clear. His own attitude towards these movements, or of the protagonists in his novels, is a strong sense of distance, and he seems to remain out of the way, and these social movements become the background of his novels or a sense of the times hidden behind.
I've seen a conversation he had with a famous Japanese psychologist, Hayao Kawai, in which he talked about some of his attitudes at the time, and he said that the whole '60s was a time of contradictions, on the one hand, he was talking about love and peace, but on the other hand, everyone would think that Nixon was a bad person, and the United States was evil in the Vietnam War. There seems to be a contradiction between the two, and this contradiction is likely to make the whole movement violent or uncontrollable.
Of course, as he gets older and more experienced, he will slowly make some changes, and I personally feel that from the 90s onwards, he has begun to try to touch some historical topics that he may not have touched before, even in the form of a very fantasy or allegorical novel.
For example, he was very famous in the 90s in a book "Strange Articles and Lines", which actually touched on this topic, and some things related to the invasion of China began to emerge, such as the "Battle of Nomonhan".
"Strange Strips"
[Japanese] by Haruki Murakami, translated by Lin Shaohua
Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2018-6
In 2014, he conducted an interview with Western media outlets to discuss Japan's responsibility for handling the Fukushima nuclear crisis and its defeat in 1945. He said: After Japan's defeat in the war of aggression in 1945, no one has taken on this responsibility in detail. There is no specific person responsible for the nuclear problem caused by "311", and in his view, the two are consistent.
In 2018, his "Kafka by the Sea" was adapted into a stage play and officially released in Paris, France, and he also made a very clear statement at that time, saying that Japan's responsibility for the war of aggression at that time should be constantly mentioned, and as a novelist and literary worker, he had the obligation to pass on these historical memories in his way.
So from this point of view, I think Murakami is more willing to touch on some historical topics after entering his old age, or his responsibility as a writer is more obvious. Looking at Murakami's works from this perspective, you may be able to see some interesting clues, such as the article he wrote last year, "Abandoning the Cat", recalling some of his father's experiences, and in the previous "1Q84" You can also read his touch on history, of course, in his own literary way.
"Abandoned Cat"
[Japanese] by Haruki Murakami, translated by Ye Yi
Wenzhi Books / Flower City Press, 2021-1
Yu Bei: This is the overall characteristic of Murakami's works, but most readers still read murakami from a very relaxed perspective.
Yao Dongmin: The earliest readers came into contact with Murakami must have come from some of his novels and essay works, which is a relatively relaxed perspective. In the early days, everyone would say that Wong Kar-wai seemed to have obtained the essence of Haruki Murakami, because there were some very specific symbolic things in his original works, such as a few points of drinking, a few points of smoke, and so on, which was a very detailed digital expression, which everyone thought was a very petty bourgeois expression. Society has just reached this stage of development, and when the material culture is relatively rich, everyone is very receptive to these and is very suitable for his works.
Yu Bei: Probably many readers will also regard Murakami as a "lifestyle home", and his essays and novels provide a very desirable way of life for young people ten years ago and even young people today.
Another point is that Murakami's writing has always been writing about youth stories, including his latest short story in 2020, "One Person Singular", which will be introduced in the second half of the country, and that short story collection is the same as the previous novels, and the protagonists are young people. The writer Qiu Huadong said that when he was young, he really liked to read Murakami's stories, but when he got older, he would find out how this writer kept writing these stories of youth.
I think Murakami will get older, but there will always be young readers who are willing to read his novels when they are confused or emotionally ill, because the mood is very consistent, which is why Murakami continues to be popular with new readers.
Stills from the movie Norwegian Forest.
Yu Bei: Mr. Lu Lingzhi is also a reader and translator of two writers, Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino, can you tell us some of your feelings when reading and translating their works?
Lu Lingzhi: The two teachers Haruki Murakami have introduced so much, so let me talk about Keigo Higashino. I think Keigo Higashino is a very professional popular fiction author, although the style of the story he creates will be very different, but they all have a common feature, that is, it is very easy to read, the text is very smooth, and you can read a book at once.
This should be the key skill that has supported him to sell well until now. A writer cannot write every story very well, very attractively, he will certainly have high mountains and valleys, but if his ability and ability are carried through all the time, it will form the basis for his long-term bestseller.
Keigo Higashino is a Japanese mystery novelist.
There are many More Japanese works worth reading
Yu Bei: Japan's book publishing industry is mainly divided into fiction and non-fiction, the two writers just talked about are more concentrated in the field of fiction, what are the characteristics and differences between Japanese book fiction and non-fiction works, and when expressing the same topic, will there be any obvious difference?
Sha Qingqing: From the perspective of the global market, Japan is still a relatively vigorous place in the publishing market, and we all know that in recent years, because of the impact of online media, the rise of new media, and the increase in people's ways of entertainment, the publishing industry in many places has more or less shrunk, of course, Japan is also shrinking, but its shrinkage rate is much slower than other places, and it basically still has a very large readership.
On the other hand, Japan has a very good tradition of publishing "bunkomoto". Most of the bunko books are new books, new books are a form of publication unique to Japan, many famous publishing houses in Japan have their own new book brands, this new book is often in the form of a library book, the folio is very small, easy to carry, take it in your hand and you can turn it over.
Bunkoben (Japanese: Bunkomoto) is a form of book publishing in Japan, mostly published on A6 (equivalent to Chinese mainland's large 64 kai) paper, and the price is lower than that of books of the same size on the market.
Generally, this new book will be published for a certain social issue or a news event that everyone is concerned about, or even a certain historical issue. Publishers often look for experts who are very researched in this field to write a popular book for the public. This publishing tradition is relatively well maintained in Japan, and it is also convenient for many readers to access some of the better non-fiction works.
In addition to academics, there is a group of non-fiction authors who are a group of investigative journalists who will form a very powerful non-fiction group. Recently, Houlang published "Barrel River Tracking Massacre", which recorded a vicious social case that sensationalized Japan, a weekly reporter did a follow-up report, he did not report in a sensational way, he wanted to expose the problems behind it, because there were many problems behind this tragedy, in addition to the perpetrators, there were also official inaction at the time, media neglect, etc., he wrote from various different angles.
"Barrel River Tracking Massacre"
[Japanese] by Qing Shui Jie, translated by Wang Huamao
Houlang 丨 Sichuan People's Publishing House, 2021-2
Yu Kita: In Japan, apart from the two writers Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino, what other reading options do we have?
Lu Lingzhi: Keigo Higashino's creative style is more similar to pointing out a social problem from a critical point of view, and there is also a well-known writer in the Japanese literary world, whose style is to regard some social problems in Japan as an unavoidable part of reality, acknowledge the imperfections of real society, and explore how small people can make themselves happier. This writer's work is very heartwarming, and it is written to make the reader feel happy, he is Kotaro Isaka.
Yu Kita: Kotaro Isaka's popularity among Japanese readers is Top3, second only to Keigo Higashino and Haruki Murakami, but his domestic sales do not seem to match this favorite, everyone is more familiar, and the best-selling estimate is "Golden Dreams".
Golden Dreams
[Sun] written by Kotaro Isaka, Akira Shiroga
Nanhai Publishing Company, 2016-11
Lu Lingzhi: Maybe because the social pressure in China has not yet developed to the level of Japan, in the future, perhaps the works of Mr. Kotaro Isaka will slowly gain our understanding, and more and more Chinese readers will need a healing writer like Kotaro Isaka.
Not a novelist author, I recommend the author of Tokyo Style, Chikuichi, who doesn't go with the flow of the media about how delicate, small and beautiful Japanese culture is. On the contrary, he uses a lot of pictures he takes to reflect what the real life of young people in the big city of Tokyo is like, not necessarily to fly to compete for the upper reaches, but to live a self-sufficient life, and there is time to play with their own hobbies, do not choose to give up, but pile up a lot of their favorite things at home, although piled up, but reflect the hobbies and enthusiasm in their lives, from another point of view to see Japan, all chikuichi works are worth reading.
Tokyo Style
[Japanese] Du Zhuxiang, translated by Lü Lingzhi
Nova Press, 2019-5
Yao Dongmin: In addition to Haruki Murakami, there is another Murakami in Japan, which is Murakami Ryu, who is more interesting than Haruki Murakami, he is a slash uncle, who has many fields, can write, do TV shows, taste food, etc., so his works are very rich in subject matter, if you have the opportunity, you can contact it.
Another female writer known as the "Diva of Japanese Literature" is Banana Yoshimoto, who is more well known in China for his work "Kitchen", which has also been made into a movie, which is also very healing. With the increasingly fierce competition in society now, funeral culture is very popular, and it is actually very necessary to read such healing works.
Yu Bei: Among the three major female writers in contemporary Japan: Mitsuyo Kakuda, Banana Yoshimoto, and Kaori Ekoku, there may be more attention paid to Kakuda Mitsuyo in recent years, including "Home on the Slope" that has been remade into a Japanese drama, including the Shanghai translation and "She on the Other Side" from the century text, many of her works focus on female themes, so when reading her novels, especially "Home on the Slope", you can feel the parenting pressure faced by housewives after giving birth, which is a very delicate psychological change. Only a woman writer can write it.
The Japanese drama "Home on the Slope" tells the story of a desperate group portrait of contemporary housewives who are difficult to raise children.
Sha Qingqing: Contemporary writer, I recommend Shuichi Yoshida, who is also a relatively active writer in the contemporary Japanese literary scene. The themes of his novels are diverse, the text is relatively cold, it looks cool, even if it is a novel about love, it is also very cool. I personally like his writing style, and the themes he writes are still quite sensitive in Japanese society, such as "Fury", which is also a good way to understand Japanese society.
Among the writers of the older generation, Kiyoharu Matsumoto is also worth reading. Kiyoharu Matsumoto is the grandfather of Japanese social reasoning, but also a very good investigative journalist or investigative writer, he has written a lot of non-fiction things, such as he wrote a very interesting book in his early years, called "The Black Mist of Japan", that is, to tell a lot of social cases that really happened in Japan's post-war chaotic period, such as the "Imperial Bank Incident" in Tokyo, Japan, he collected a lot of information as a speculative novelist, formed his own reasoning, and thought that this case might be like.
He also wrote some historical books, such as "The Excavation of showa history", specializing in the "February 26" incident, and like Murakami, he interviewed a large number of victims and parties, and published seven or eight volumes of investigation materials, which is a very good historical material. From this point of view, many of his works and research also need to be re-recognized, and his identity is not only a speculative novelist, but also a very comprehensive Japanese cultural person.