As we all know, I generally don't attend public events such as TV shows or speeches. Some people say that I am an arrogant and withdrawn strange person. To this, I would like to say that I am just an ordinary person.
I also take the subway or bus to visit used bookstores, CD shops, or nearby malls. For me, it would be a blessing to be considered an endangered animal like the Nishimote bobcat (unique to Japan and whose lifestyle is unknown).
Writing is my job, so I don't want to get involved in other areas.
Each of us is like a double-storey building. The entrance is on the first floor, where our family lives; on the second floor is the room of each family member, where everyone can freely listen to music and read.
There is also a basement, which we call the "soul basement". It is a vast space that stores fragments of our memories.
What most people don't know is that deeper into the "second basement floor" there is a dark room. No one knows how deep this dark room is, or where its lowest point can reach.
In the field of music and literature, although it is only necessary to touch the "basement" to create, it is difficult for such works to have the power to shake people's hearts.
The American writer Fitzgerald once said that if you want to write something different, you must use a language that is different from others.
Someone once asked the American jazz piano master Theronis Monk: "How can you play such a beautiful sound?" ”
His answer was: "Every piano in the world has 88 keys, and everyone plays on it, it makes no difference." "However, there is no second person who can play a tune as exquisite as he plays.
It can be seen that if the creator does not go deep to a certain extent, the work created cannot really touch people's hearts.
Obviously, both of these have found a way to a deeper place, that is, the "second underground layer of the soul", which is very valuable in the entire field of art.
In the case of fiction alone, if it is only a work that touches on the "underground layer", it is easy for readers to find problems, because readers can easily understand it.
But novels that go deep into the "second underground" are different, because such works are deep enough, so they are more likely to resonate with readers, shocking and unforgettable.
Just like the difference between showering at home and soaking in a hot spring, one penetrates into the most core area, and the other only stays on the surface of the skin.
So, as a novelist, I had to stay awake and go deeper into my soul.
If people do not have a story, it is difficult to maintain the "self". Children need stories, and whenever they hear something someone else say, they instinctively imitate it.
So, a simple story grew in their lives. Of course, as we get older, these stories become mixed.
Everyone in this world experiences a unique life in their own stories of complexity or simplicity, joy or sorrow.
So, what is the meaning of these stories?
To understand their meaning, you must "relativize" these stories, but it has always been very difficult to "relativize" your own stories. The novelist's duty is to write these stories down for the reader to read.
When readers read my novels, they feel empathy, which is the reader's own experience that resonates with my story.
In the same story, different souls are intertwined to form a "network of souls", in which people interpret each other and dissect themselves.
For me, there is nothing happier than the reader saying, "Why does Murakami know so easily what I'm thinking?" ”
Every story I have ever written stems from the depths of the soul, and writing a novel is a process of constantly going deeper.
In the process, I get a little dark, but running can help me shake them off, and running is like exorcising demons. That's why I love running.
Speaking of which, I have never been touched by my own work. But many readers are moved to tears after reading my novel.
I prefer readers who can laugh after reading the novel, because crying is introverted and cannot open their minds to the outside world, but humor will make people gather courage and produce strength.
I love that power.