Furor in Japan for the new novel by Haruki Murakami

The new novel by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, “The city and its uncertain walls”went on sale today at midnight in its original language and hundreds of fans lined up at Japanese bookstores to purchase their copy: the author’s first book to see the light of day in six years.

It is not a phenomenon comparable to other multitudinous ones like the saga of Harry Potterbut the truth is that the author of “Chronicle of the bird that winds up the world” -a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature- has his devoted followers who have been eager to read his latest literary creation.

At midnight sharp, with the beginning of April 13, the sale of the novel officially began in Japan, so many bookstores in Tokyo decided to stay open late -like the famous Kinokuniya chain- to comply with the ritual of readers to acquire it the instant it was possible to do so.

One of the first readers to pick up his copy was the young Shunsuke Mitsumoto: “I want to read it as soon as I get home. As much as I want to savor every sentence, I’ll probably read it all at once. I’m excited to think this book will take us from new to another world,” the man who is also a member of a reading group dedicated to Murakami told the AFP news agency.

For now, the new from the 74-year-old writer – a 1,200-page novel that, according to what he said, he wrote during the pandemic – has only been published in Japanese and the Spanish version and translations into other languages ​​are awaited, but it is still unknown. the release date in other countries.

“The City and its Uncertain Walls”original title of the work published by the Japanese publisher Shinchosha, is promoted as a plot “that makes the soul tremble” and according to the back cover: “You must go to this city. At the cost of everything. As in an old dream, a hidden shelf opens and the sealed story is awakened, which begins to move”.

It is Murakami’s first novel in six years, after publishing in 2017 “The Commander’s Death”and it is the first to be published simultaneously on paper and in electronic format.

At 74, Murakami is an internationally recognized author, translated into 50 languages, awarded with the Noma, Tanizaki, Hans Christian Andersen, Franz Kafka and Jerusalem Prize prizes.

Born in Kyoto (western Japan) in 1949, Murakami made his debut in literature with the novels “Listen to the Song of the Wind” and “Pinball 1973”, which he wrote at the age of 30, in one sitting, at the kitchen table. from his house. Many years later he would arrive at bookstores in Argentina translated into Spanish.

His fans on this side of the ocean already know that they received the editions of Murakami’s books translated into Spanish in the exact reverse order of how they were published in Tokyo, chronologically.

The author of “Tokyo blues”, “Kafka on the shore” and “1Q84” he combines fantastic elements, melancholic characters and improbable dialogues with thick and credible atmospheres, which make it impossible to stray from his novels until the end.

In Argentina, Tusquets Editores has published all his works, including “The Death of the Commander”, “Underground”, “What do I talk about when I talk about running”, “What do I talk about when I talk about writing” or “Music, only music”. , or “The Birthday Girl”.