Ultimately tragic foreign language

Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: The style of this book is just like Murakami Haruki's novels—vivid, witty, and humorous, yet it also lacks in-depth thinking, making it an enjoyable and highly readable small book. This book is part of the "7" essays series published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House, and it is also the th essay collection of Murakami Haruki's essays introduced in China. Related Product Recommendations: Murakami Haruki's Musical World of Dreams (3CDs)— Murakami Haruki's works from 1979-2008 as the book title "The Ultimately Sad Foreign Language" is one of the sixteen essays in this collection. The word "sad" in the title, as explained in the author's postscript, does not primarily refer to the sadness of having to speak or not speaking English well in the United States, but rather to the kind of sadness inherent in being so destined to be trapped in a language that lacks self-evidence. Then does the sadness of speaking Japanese back in one's mother country not exist? The answer is no. Because even when using a self-evident language like Japanese, there are still moments of communication breakdown and inability to articulate oneself. Wherever we are, some part of us remains an outsider, and we will eventually be betrayed and abandoned by the silent self-evidence in the twilight zone—our life journey will forever carry the ultimately sad foreign language.