Kafka on the Shore -- A Collection of Essays by Haruki Murakami

Author: (Japanese) Murakami Haruki
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: A cursed (youth) flees to a distant land, his heart oscillating between hope and despair, while the world shifts between reality and virtuality. The novel excels at creating suspense, with its plot unfolding in unexpected ways, concise and tightly packed, filled with a compelling force that urges readers to finish it in one go. Dreams in this novel seem to hold metaphorical significance. The author tears down the insurmountable walls between dreams and reality, reality and surrealism, this world and the other world, establishing an independent logical discourse. The characters are also vividly distinct, mysterious, and full of modernity and symbolism. Murakami Haruki's new novel, selling 800,000 copies in Japan within half a year! A cursed (youth) flees to a distant land, his heart oscillating between hope and despair, while the world shifts between reality and virtuality. Shanghai Translation Publishing House newly released Chinese translation of "Kafka on the Shore," narrated with the masterful pen of Mr. Lin Shaohua, telling the coming-of-age story of a Japanese (youth). At the age of 15, Tamura Kafka (Czech for "crow") flees Tokyo with a hatred for his father, seeking refuge in a private library in the remote coastal town of Takamatsu. He must escape the curse of fate—he will kill his father, commit incest with his mother, and have sex with his sister. Ultimately, he cannot escape the inescapable fate of the curse, and blood and sin accompany him throughout his journey. Murakami Haruki skillfully reinterprets the classic " Bildungsroman " of world literature: the " Cassandra prophecy " and " Oedipus complex " from ancient Greek tragedies, the paradox and absurdity of the works of Austrian writer Franz Kafka, the eerie plot of "living souls" in Japan's "The Tale of Genji," and the Western music that Murakami loves—all are absorbed and then freely expressed. Even the logo of Scotch whiskey and the brand of American fast food are transformed into characters in the novel. The plot is utterly bizarre—collective amnesia, people talking to cats, raining fish and leeches, beautiful women living in solidified time, a librarian who is a woman but lives as a man all her life; in "Kafka on the Shore," there is also a time tunnel, its entrance deep in the forest, guarded by two Japanese soldiers in Imperial Army field uniforms, holding Type 38 rifles. The novel is organically composed of numerous vivid and colorful metaphors, narrating how a (youth) learns to appreciate the cruelty of the world while also growing into a more gentle and compassionate adult.