Study On The Art Of Haruki Murakami's Novel Writing

Haruki Murakami (1949---), a prolific contemporary Japanese writer, has accomplished a series of literature works including"Adventures on Seeking sheep","Norwegian Forest","The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles","Kafka at the Seaside"and so on in the course of 30 years of writing since 1979 when he claimed his status in literature with his maiden work"Listening to the Sound of the Wind",. With these works, he has already become the most influential representative of contemporary Japanese literature, excelling the Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Oe Kenzaburo.The novel,"Norwegian Forest"published in 1987, marked a revolution of his own works in the art of novel writing. His literature was raised to such a height as to represent Japanese spiritual history, receiving worldwide attention and thus contributing to his unfailing popularity among his readers. His uncovering of Post-war Japanese spiritual crisis through art manifested the direction towards which the fundamental change in the literature of Post-war Japan even the whole human world would tend."Murakami myth"emerged in a time when the pure literature of Post-war Japan was in a slump. His novels arose out of a rebellion against traditional Japanese novels, and gradually acquired a plain and concise style, trickling with a subtle tone of emotion, hailed by critics as the novels with unique American flavor. His works usually accomplished an animated narration of the story and depiction of characters across the realistic and imaginary worlds, vividly displaying his manipulation of the proper selection of style and materials and forming a striking contrast between the simplicity of short novels and the complexity of long novels. His works were also characterized by the artistic use of imagery and symbols, revealing his comprehensive understanding and innovation of the techniques used in post-modernist literature.Under the profound influence of Fitzgerald and Carver, Murakami was in full support of American contemporary literature. He considered American novels as the source of his creation, and thus developed into a special style of supporting literature activities with translation, the existence of which could by no means be ignored in the history of post-war Japanese literature translation. The second decade of his literary creation after his return to Japan witnessed the fading of American influence and the emergence of Japanese literature traditions in his novels and this brought significant changes to his works.Murakami's understanding of China is complex and contradictory and no discussion of his literary works would be full and satisfactory without a mention of it.