Haruki Murakami
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Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹 Murakami Haruki?, born January 12, 1949) is a Japanese writer and translator.[1] His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.
He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature. The Guardian praised him as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievements.[2]
Biography
Murakami was born in Japan during the post–World War II baby boom.[3] Although born in Kyoto, he spent his youth in Shukugawa (Nishinomiya),Ashiya[disambiguation needed] and Kobe.[4][5] His father was the son of a Buddhist priest,[6] and his mother the daughter of an Osaka merchant.[7] Both taughtJapanese literature.[8]
Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegutand Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers by his Western influences.[9]
Murakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe in Norwegian Wood, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the coffeehouse (jazz bar, in the evening) "Peter Cat" in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife.[10] They ran the bar from 1974 until 1981.[11]
Many of his novels have themes and titles that invoke classical music, such as the three books making up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini's opera overture), Bird as Prophet (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann usually known in English as The Prophet Bird), and The Bird-Catcher (a character in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: Dance, Dance, Dance