Haruki Murakami: biography, creativity, personal life and photos

He himself does not know when he wanted to become a writer. In an interview, Haruki Murakami said he always believed that he could write books. He claims that writing for him is as natural as breathing. In the biography of Haruki Murakami it is almost impossible to find any incriminating facts. He did not have numerous novels, connections with the underworld and addiction to drugs. He just wrote books because he liked it.

Childhood

Haruki Murakami was born on January 19, 1949 in Japan in the village of Kayako, near the cultural and historical center of Kyoto. Like all Japanese, the writer behaves with restraint and shies away from many answers, therefore, the biography of Haruki Murakami contains only general information about his life.

Grandfather Murakami preached Buddhism and even was the rector of the temple. My father was a school teacher of Japanese language and literature, in his free time he also helped at the temple. In 1950, the family moved to the city of Asia, near the port of Kobe. Therefore, the boy’s childhood passed in the port city. It was at this time that he became interested in American and European literature.

Student years and youth

An important stage in the biography of Haruki Murakami was his student years. In 1968, he became a student at the prestigious Waseda University. It is not known why he chose the specialty “classical drama”, because he had neither interest nor zeal for reading old scripts.

During his studies, he frankly missed, but, as befits a hardworking Japanese, he successfully defended his degree in modern drama. In his student years he took an active part in protests against the Vietnam War.

In 1971, Murakami marries. His wife was a classmate Yoko Takahashi. With her, he lives happily today. Spouses have no children. With this information about personal life in the biography of Haruki Murakami exhausts itself. He had no mistresses, and the writer was never seen in curious scandals.

Blame Jazz

Haruki Murakami was always enthusiastic about jazz music, so I decided to turn my passion into a business. In 1974, a future writer opens a jazz bar in Tokyo called Peter Kat. The institution was successful and brought good income for seven years. Then Murakami sold it. How did this happen? In the biography of Haruki Murakami, brief information about this is also present.

The bar functioned successfully, life slowly went under its own power and, it seemed, nothing would change. But once Haruki Murakami attended a baseball game, watching the game, he suddenly realized that he could write books. So suddenly, an insight came to the writer that it was time to create. After that day, he increasingly began to linger in the bar after closing, making sketches for future books. Sometimes a thought that comes suddenly can dramatically change lives. From the day it was decided to write books, literature has become an integral part of Haruki Murakami's biography.

Literature

In 1979, the world saw Haruka Murakami's first story, “Listen to the Wind Song”. She was immediately noticed. This work received the Gundzosinjin-se Prize, awarded to aspiring Japanese writers, and the Noma Prize, which was awarded to the writers by the Bungei literary magazine. This book is also known as the first part of the Rat Trilogy series.

As for the author, Murakami himself greatly underestimated his works. He considered his works to be weak: they can still be sold in Japan, but they certainly will not interest a foreign reader. But these were only the writer's thoughts; the foreign reader did not agree with them. Haruki Murakami's works quickly won the attention of second-hand bookstores in America and Europe. Readers were very impressed by the original style of the author.

Time to travel

In 1980, the sequel to the Rat Trilogy - Pinball 1973 series (short story) went on sale. Two years later, the final part of the cycle, “The Hunt for Sheep” (novel, 1982), was released. The 1982 work was also awarded the Noma Prize. From this period begins the formation of Murakami as a writer. He decides that it is time to sell the bar, and wants to devote himself completely to literature.

For his first books, the author received decent fees that allowed him to travel around Europe and America. His journey lasted several years. He returned to his homeland only in 1996. When Murakami left the Land of the Rising Sun, he managed to publish four collections of stories:

• "Slow boat to China";
• "Great day for a kangaroo";
• "The deadly agony of a carousel with horses";
• "Firefly, burn the barn and other stories."

In addition to the stories, he managed to publish another collection of fairy tales “Christmas of a Lamb” and a fantasy novel “Wonderland without brakes and the End of the World” (1987). Roman receives a prestigious award - a prize to them. Junichiro Tanizaki.

When Murkami traveled to Italy and Greece, his impressions inspired him to write the Norwegian Forest. The work played a key role in the biography and work of Haruki Murakami - this novel brought the writer world fame. Both readers and critics unanimously call this work the best in the work of a writer. A circulation of two million copies instantly scattered across Europe and America.

The novel “Norwegian Forest” tells about the student life of the protagonist in the 60s. In those days, student protests were common, rock and roll became more and more popular, and the main character met with two girls at the same time. Despite the fact that the story is conducted in the first person, it is not at all an autobiographical novel, it is simply more convenient for the author to write.

Teacher

In 1988, a new stage begins in the biography of the writer Haruki Murakami. He moves to London, where he decides to write a sequel to the Rat Trilogy cycle - the novel “Dance, Dance, Dance” is published in the world.

In 1990, in the Land of the Rising Sun, another collection of stories was published with the entertaining title “Telepuzik Retaliation”. In 1991, Murakami was offered to become a teacher at Princeton University (USA). A little later, he receives an associate professor degree. While Murakami is engaged in teaching activities, eight volumes of the writer's works are published in Japan. The collection includes all the things written by the writer over the past decade of creative activity.

Only in a foreign country did the writer have a desire to tell the world about his country, its inhabitants, traditions, culture. It is worth noting that he did not like to do this before. Apparently, only being far from your native country, you really begin to appreciate it.

In 1992, Murakami moved to California, where he continued his teaching career: giving lectures on contemporary literature at Howard Taft University. Meanwhile, a new novel, “South of the Border, West of the Sun,” is being prepared for release in the country of the writer. This time, the author attributed to the protagonist something from his biography. Haruki Murakami (photos of the writer are presented in the article) wrote a story about the owner of a jazz bar.

Aum Shinrique

In 1994, the novel The Chronicles of Clockwork Bird went on sale. He is considered the most difficult in the writer's work: there are many different literary forms that are flavored with a good portion of mysticism.

In 1995, in Japan, or rather, in Kobe, there was an earthquake and gas attack by the Aum Shinrique sect. A year after the tragedy, Murakami returns to Japan, now he lives in Tokyo. Impressed after the tragedy in Kobe, he writes two documentaries - “The Underground” and “The Promised Land”.

More books

Since 1999, Haruki Murakami begins to publish a book every year. In the biography of Haruki Murakami, a fruitful period begins. So, in 1999 the novel “My beloved Sputnik” was published, in 2000 - a collection of narratives “All God's children can dance”.

In 2001, Haruki Murakami and his wife moved to the village of Oiso, which is located on the ocean, where they live now.

It is worth noting that the works of Murakami are translated into 20 languages, including Russian. True, in Russia the author’s works are late for several years (tens of years). So, only in 2002, the novel "Wonderland without brakes" appeared in bookstores in Russia.

In 2003, Murakami visited Russia. While he was traveling, the novel “Kafka on the Beach” was published in Japan. It consisted of two volumes, was the tenth novel in a row in the writer's bibliography, and received the World Fantasy Award.

Legends and bestsellers

In 2005, the collection "Tokyo Legends" was published, which included not only new stories, but also those that the writer wrote back in the 80s of the last century. In 2007, the writer wrote a memoir, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running." When he was 33 years old, he quit smoking and became involved in running, swimming and baseball. From time to time, Murakami takes part in marathons. Constant sports and became the source of inspiration, which splashed out in a kind of memoirs. In 2010, this book was translated into Russian.

The year 2009 was notable for the release of a new trilogy - 1Q84. Two parts of the book were sold out literally on the first day of sales. In this novel, the author examined topics such as religious extremism, the conflict of generations, the inconsistency of reality with illusions. A year later, Murakami added the third volume - another bestseller appeared in the world.

About everything in the world

The next book was released only in 2013. It was the philosophical drama Colorless Tsukuru and the Years of Traveling. Murakami writes about a lonely engineer who designed railway stations. Like all children, in early childhood he had friends, but over time they began to turn away from him one by one. Tsukuru cannot understand the reason for this behavior. His new girlfriend advises finding old friends and finding out directly.

In 2014, another interesting collection comes out - “A Man Without a Woman”. In these short stories, the main characters are strange men and real fatal women, and the main theme is the relationship between them.

In addition to writing

In addition to writing, Murakami was involved in the translation of books by European authors. Only thanks to him in Japan, readers discovered the works of Raymond Carver, Truman Capote, John Irving, Ursula Le Guin. A translation of Salinger’s work “The Catcher in the Rye” broke all sales records.

He created several photo albums and guidebooks in which he realized all his love and interest in Western culture. He created two volumes of the book "Jazz Portraits", where he talked about 55 jazz artists.

Our days

In 2016, Murakami received a literary award to them. G. H. Andersen. As they said at the award ceremony, he received the award:

"For a bold combination of classic narrative, pop culture, Japanese tradition, fantastic realism and philosophical reflection."

Of course, it was expected that he would also be awarded the Nobel Prize, but so far this has not happened. In the meantime, he continues to write. In 2017, the novel “Assassination of the Commander" is published, and perhaps the writer will please something in 2018, but so far this is a mystery.

Perhaps the most important thing in the biography of Haruki Murakami was briefly mentioned. As you can see, writing for him really means living.