[Japanese Side] Haruki Murakami Returns with New Work... New Theme 'Wall'

Publication of 'Dosi wa Geu Bulhwaksilhan Byeok'... Manuscript Rewritten After 43 Years
Wall and Shadow Motifs... "Reflected on COVID-19 and Ukraine War"

“You told me about that city.”

Haruki Murakami, who sparked the 'Haruki Syndrome,' has returned with his new work City and Its Uncertain Walls. It is a full-length novel released after six years. The opening sentence of this novel has been praised for showcasing Murakami’s essence as a youth literature icon. This work is a reworking and expansion of the novella City and Its Uncertain Walls that Murakami originally published in a literary magazine 43 years ago, in 1980.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The novel was released in Japan ahead of Korea, and Japanese media extensively covered interviews with Murakami, fueling a wave of excitement for the new release. Particularly, the theme of 'walls' in this novel has been linked to contemporary issues such as COVID-19 and the Ukraine war. Today, we share how Japanese media are evaluating Murakami’s new work and discuss the author and his latest novel.

According to an interview with Mainichi Shimbun, this work originated from a novella that Murakami had never published as a standalone book since his debut. At that time, Murakami was running a jazz caf? in Tokyo, which made it difficult for him to fully dedicate himself to writing. He shelved the work for a while and revisited it during the COVID-19 pandemic. It took him two and a half years to complete the novel. Having felt some regret about his earlier writing, Murakami devoted much care to this work, writing, setting it aside for a few days, revising, taking breaks, and rewriting.

The novel is structured in three parts. In the first part, the story alternates between the 17-year-old self and the 30-something self. The 17-year-old’s 16-year-old lover, “you,” says, “The place where I truly live is inside that street surrounded by high walls,” and then mysteriously disappears.

Meanwhile, the protagonist lives in a quiet street also surrounded by high walls. The people on the street speak little, and no one casts a shadow. The protagonist struggles with whether to stay inside the walls or venture out into the outside world. The story then shifts to Fukushima, where a nuclear accident occurred. There, the protagonist meets characters who are unfamiliar with a society wounded emotionally, and eventually confronts “that street” again.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In this novel, walls and shadows serve as motifs. Shadows have been a recurring device in Murakami’s works. He explained, “To me, shadows are like the self in the subconscious, both my superior and my negation. Writing novels, especially full-length ones, is a process of delving into a consciousness beyond consciousness.”

Walls play a central role, as indicated by the title. In an interview with Asahi, Murakami said, “Walls are boundaries separating this world and the other side, and crossing or returning from beyond the wall plays a very important role in the work.” He added, “Although the title includes ‘uncertain walls,’ the shape and purpose of the wall change depending on the person inside, and this is embedded in the work.”

Murakami appears to have considered the walls of lockdowns caused by COVID-19 and conflicts such as the Ukraine war. When he released the new work in May, he also gave a lecture in the U.S. titled “Writing Novels in the Era of Plague and War.”

In the interview, he mentioned that his new book is popular in Russia and Ukraine, concluding, “My readers never want war. I hope those people will cherish my books.”

As this novel carries social significance, Murakami’s new book has already become a bestseller in Japan. Once again, the Haruki Syndrome has been reignited.

Murakami’s walls seem to focus less on the walls as physical spaces and more on the act of crossing them. It remains to be seen what meaning his thoughts will offer in this era of conflict and polarization, and whether the Haruki Syndrome will once again sweep Korea.