Hundreds of Haruki Murakami admirers waited outside a Tokyo bookstore on Thursday, for the midnight release of the world-renowned author’s first novel in six years.
When Haruki Murakami was fresh off his debut, he penned a narrative about a walled city. He resurrected it as “The City and Its Uncertain Walls” more than four decades later, as a seasoned and acclaimed novelist.
Three years ago, he felt the time had come to return the story. Which he thought was incomplete but contained vital aspects. Such as the wall and the shadow, and attack them anew based on what he felt on his skin.
“Because of the coronavirus, I rarely went out and spent most of my time at home, and I tended to look inward.” “Then I realized, maybe it’s time to write that story,” Murakami added. And he did it “as if recovering it from the back of a drawer.”
He began writing it in January 2020 and concluded it in December 2022. Years that coincided with a number of earth-shattering events. “When I sit down to write a novel, I just know it’s time,” he explained.
“The City and Its Uncertain Walls Midnight Release
Copies of “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” which had previously only been available in Japanese. That heaped high on tables outside the Kinokuniya store in central Shinjuku.
Murakami previously published the novel “Killing Commendatore” in February 2017.
The best-selling author is known for his nuanced tales of modern life’s absurdity and loneliness. That already translated into approximately 50 languages.
Murakami claimed in a note posted by publisher Shinchosha ahead of the new book’s release. That he wrote the novel in self-isolation during the coronavirus outbreak.
The 74-year-old characterised his work approach as “just like a ‘dream reader’ reads a ‘old dream’ at a library,” in his trademark enigmatic way.
Murakami, whose most famous books include “Norwegian Wood” and “Kafka on the Shore,” is a reclusive character who is frequently nominated for a Nobel Prize.
Chikako Muramatsu, 28, said the author was “loved by a wide range of people” at the early-morning gathering on Thursday.
“Many fans appear to be from my parents’ generation, but there are some big Haruki fans from my generation as well,” she explains.
