| Haruki Murakami is a very popular Japanese writer. His novels are welcome to a wide range of readers and translated into many foreign languages since they have been published in 1979. The works of "pure literature" are usually badly sold in Japan, but Haruki Murakami is an exception and the sales volume of each of his novels breaks through a million piece . We may say that he brings about vitality and shock to Japanese literary field.Forest in Norway is the most representative works of Haruki Murakami's. It takes the form of "youth novel" and tells the love story between the hero and two girls. " I " (the hero) fall in love with my dead friend's girl friend (Zhizi) , but the girl leaves me and goes to a psychotic hospital to treat her psychosis . " I" keep in touch with her by writing letters. During this period, "I" meet a lovely and broad-minded girl (Lvzi) and begin to love her. Some time later , " I " receive the news that Zhizi has committed suicide . Although "I" feel greatly sad, by the encouragement of the friend of Zhizi, "I " begin to face the new life .Forest in Norway displays apparent double characteristics. First, it combines realism with unrealism, which is the most obvious characteristics of this novel. The students movements, the political meetings, the modern music and the omnipresent bars collectively make up the content of the real world. They are not only the realistic basis of the development of the story and the moulding of the characters, but also the reflection of the real world. The living environment, the interpersonal relationship and the act (and its mental incentive) of these characters also reflect the realistic theme of this novel. The unrealistic elements are caused by the lack of the hero's memory, the writer's selection of materials in the course of creation and his conscious seek of the popular meanings. In this novel, unrealism is embodied in the symbolic places and symbolic people. The psychotic hospital symbolically reflects the writer's complex thinking of the ideal world and the real world and contains his desire for the interpersonal warm emotion. As for Zhizi, she symbolically reflects the writer's worship of personality selfhood, the harmony of love and sex and a good relationship between people and the world. Secondly, it is the result of the combination of the western and the eastern culture. The story abounds in western things and the characters of this novel are immersed in them. But, as a Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami put more emphasis on the traditional Japanese aesthetic concept. As a result of the above two points, Forest in Norway contains more than one theme and reflects the writer's thinking and understanding of the world. First, it is a novel about the wandering and salvation of selfhood. The death of Zhizi has some symbolic meaning. There is an inter-conflicting and inter-dependent relationship between the subjective selfhood and the objective world. It is a wise method to keep a relative independent selfhood and mediate it according to the outside world. But the selfhood of Zhizi is confined in the darkness and is hard to form the conversational relationship with the world. Once she enters the real world, she is incompetent to cherish and maintain her selfhood. It is the basic reason for her choosing death.Secondly, it is a novel of the lament of the youth. The novel narrates a romantic love story , but its connotation directly reaches the truth of growth : bewilderment , vacuity , impulse , missing , grief……The improvement of people's life strengthen the isolation between the young people and the world , which makes them frightened . They can only keep passive to avoid suffering harm. From this point of view, Forest in Norway is the reflection and lament of the youth, which cries for the fragile youth and life. Zhizi can not go out of the shade of the youth and dies with it. After a period of bitter experience, "I " not only walk out of the shade , but also finish the mental growth .Lastly, it disp...
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