مهنتي هي الرواية

by Haruki Murakami, هاروكي موراكامي, أحمد حسن المعيني (ترجمة)

"ذات ظهيرةٍ من شهر نيسان/إبريل في عام 1978، كان هاروكي موراكامي يجلس في مدرَّجات استاد "جنغو" بطوكيو، يتابع مباراة بيسبول، فأصابتْه حالةٌ من التجلِّي غيَّرت حياته تمامًا. حدث ذلك حين ضرب لاعبٌ من فريقه المحلِّيِّ الكرة إلى الميدان الأيسر، فهلَّلت الجماهير. يقول موراكامي: "في تلك اللحظة، ومن دون أيِّ مقدِّماتٍ من أيِّ نوع، لاح لي هذا الخاطر فجأة: أعتقد أنَّ بإمكاني أن أكتب رواية!"... هذا الكتاب دليلٌ إلى كتابة الرواية من منظورٍ شخصيٍّ للغاية، مطعَّمٍ بشيءٍ من الرأي والسيرة الذاتيَّة، ويحتوي عددًا من المشاهد الغريبة الكاشفة، حيث تبدو التجارب التي مرَّ بها أقرب إلى مقاطع من رواياته منها إلى الواقع. علاوةً على ذلك، فهو يحكيها وكأنَّها من عفو الطبيعة، ما يذكِّرنا بأسلوبه الذي يبدو بسيطًا دارجًا في الظاهر، وكثيرًا ما ينتقل بين الشأن اليوميِّ البسيط والعالم الغامض، من دون تغييرٍ ملحوظٍ في نبرته".

The Guardian

"موراكامي هنا أشبه بالساحر الذي يشرح لك ما يفعله وهو يستعرض خدعه أمامك، لكنه مع ذلك يدفعك إلى الإيمان بأن لديه قوى خارقة".

New York Times Book Review

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Memoir, Essays, Japan, Biography, Japanese Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Haruki Murakami (村上春樹) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.
Growing up in Ashiya, near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009–10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989–2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner.
His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre.

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever I read a Murakami novel, the world around me always feels a little more magical. Such is his aim, as he explains in Novelist As a Vocation, a collection of brief essays reflecting on his role as an author. ‘The world seems dull, but in fact it’s filled with magical and mysterious rough gemstones,’ says Murakami, ‘the novelist is equipped with the eyes to discover them.’ And these gemstones shine under the polishing of his prose in both fiction and nonfiction and in these essays he examines the act of writing in a way that registers similarly to the fantastic worlds he creates: a reality-adjacent realm where anything is possible. Looking over the course of his career. Murakami muses on the ‘trial and error’ that led him to craft a remarkable and unique voice, stating ‘if there is indeed something original about my novels, I think it springs from the principle of freedom,’ and this same sense of freedom is instilled into the reader as his rather surrealistic and thoughtful stories untether our minds from the mundane to explore life from new heights. ‘I want to open a window in their souls and let the fresh air in,’ he says of the reader and across these essays we are treated to a first-hand account of his pursuit for such an effect as well, from his inspirations to the ways the world around him—both the global literary platform in which he publishes as well as contemporary Japanese society—shapes him as a writer. While those looking to Novelist As a Vocation for thematic explorations of his works or a how-to guide to writing may find themselves wanting, Murakami’s discourse on the act of writing and his pursuit for originality are plenty to satisfy and inspire the curious mind.

‘What is originality, after all, but the shape that results from the natural impulse to communicate to others that feeling of freedom, that unconstrained joy.’

Reading like Novelist As a Vocation is like a nice cozy chat with a favorite author with Murakami adopting a rather conversationalist tone to his essays while eschewing any academic or instructional airs that often accompany books on writing. It’s old man Murakami lovingly dispensing his thoughts (and, admittedly, sometimes its a bit eye rolling “old man” hot takes on society or bemoaning the education system not being like it was in his day) and it makes for a lovely read full of big ideas on what being an artist means to him. And, more specifically, how he feels about his own pursuits of artistry and success while offering a few pieces of advice along the way. ‘Novels well up naturally from within you, not something you can casually, strategically change,’ he posits, arguing that if writing to market research or the whims of others is the center that ‘a work born from such a shallow base won’t find many readers.’ He seeks creativity and agrees with Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert who said ‘To reach the source, you have to swim against the current. Only trash swims downstream.’ For Murakami, the act of writing is something that should move on its own, not with the current, and he finds he was able to capture this because the act of writing is one he undertook for himself. He says finds a sort of ‘theraputic’ aspect in it that unlocked the magic in the world around him and, by mining the magic with words as his shovel, was able to bestow the magic into the hearts of his readers as well.

‘All creative activity is, to some extent, done partly with the intention to rectify or fix yourself. In other words, by relativizing yourself, by adapting your soul to a form that’s different from what it is now, you can resolve – or sublimate – the contradictions, rifts, and distortions that inevitably crop up in the process of being alive. And if things go well, this effect can be shared with readers.’

For him, it is a sort of free expression he finds akin to the jazz music he enjoys and often incorporates into his works. In an old essay predating this book (a decent amount of this book will be repeated information from a new perspective for those who have long scoured the internet to read his interviews and essays), he describes his method of writing is best when free from restraints on planning:

‘I never plan. I never know what the next page is going to be. Many people don't believe me. But that's the fun of writing a novel or a story, because I don't know what's going to happen next. I'm searching for melody after melody.’

Of course, he adds, these are just his ‘theories’ that work for him, much as other writers had their own (he contrasts the writing styles of Franz Kafka—a clear inspiration to his works—with that of Anthony Trollope and aligns his own methods with the latter) and if you find one that works best for you, hone in on it. In this way, this is less an instructive book than one about big ideas but the lack of instruction is part of the message: be true to your art and it will thrive and being true means seeking originality and creativity.

‘These words may provide the best definition of originality available. “Fresh, energetic, and unmistakably your own.’

Readers of Murakami will no doubt find that he has a distinct and unique voice in the global literary word. His works often harness Western culture from The Beatles to the structures of authors like Raymond Carver and Raymond Chandler (both of whom he has translated) all poured into a concoction of dreamlike vibes and surreal musings that transcend the need to identify what is “reality” and what is “not.” It is an original voice that he is proud of and seeks to consider how one can look for originality:

‘In my opinion, an artist must fulfill the following three basic requirements to be deemed “original”:
1. The artist must possess a clearly unique and individual style (of sound, language, or color). Moreover, that uniqueness should be immediately perceivable on first sight (or hearing).
2. That style must have the power to update itself. It should grow with time, never resting in the same place for long, since it expresses an internal and spontaneous process of self-reinvention.
3. Over time, that characteristic style should become integrated within the psyche of its audience, to become a part of their basic standard of evaluation. Subsequent generations of artists should see that style as a rich resource from which they can draw.
…need not fulfill all three requirements equally, of course’

I enjoyed learning about Hungarian author Ágota Kristóf who, after leaving Hungary for Switzerland in 1956 amidst political upheaval, began writing in French out of necessity. Murakami considers that ‘through writing in a foreign language thats she succeeded in developing a style that was new and uniquely hers,’ and while the two are quite different in style, he feels a kinship with her having written his first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, in his second language, English and then translated it back into Japanese. In doing so he found he could streamline his prose but also find a voice that was unique to him. While he often is told his ‘work has the feel of translation,’ he finds that to be part of his pride in his prose and what lends it to global translation and accessibility. He has always been big on sharing his ideas for that reason he likes to use 'easy words and good metaphors; good allegory,' and believes you should be 'kind to the reader' when explaining the plot so he explains 'carefully and clearly.'

'I think the first task for the aspiring novelists is to read tons of novels.'

While it isn't the primary focus, I should not that this book isnt devoid of writing advice either. Murakami suggests ideas like the best way to write characters is to observe people and listen to how they talk. Also to read a lot, both good and bad books and see what sticks. He also believes in trying new things. 'There aren’t any new words. Our job is to give new meanings and special overtones to absolutely ordinary words,' and by doing so we find our own magic. Still, I find his commitment to sharing with the reader to be the most endearing. In his acceptance speech for the 2011 Catalunya International Prize, Murakami said:

'Dreaming is the day job of novelists, but sharing our dreams is a still more important task for us. We cannot be novelists without this sense of sharing something.'

I find this beautiful. And that is why he also believes your writing should be committed to justice, for what good is sharing a vision if it isn't a vision that upholds each other. Ursula K. Le Guin once wrote that 'words are events, they do things, change things,' and in Murakami we see an aim of words to move us, make us think differently--particularly think out of the box--and hopefully, make us appreciate life and each other.

‘Perhaps no other writer concerned with memory and the difficulty of reclaiming the past – not Kawabata, not even Proust – has succeeded as well as Murakami in capturing the immediacy of the experience of déjà vu.’
-Jay Rubin, Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words

One cannot share with the world without a good translator, of which Murakami has had many. There are a few notes scattered in the book about his various translators, Philip Gabriel, Ted Goossen, Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin, though the translation of this book is credited to the ‘Harukimurakami Archival Labyrinth’ which feels like something straight out of the mysterious libraries in his works. As always, there is magic inside his works if you just know where to look.

‘When the writing process is still underway, however, I have to be able to incorporate criticisms and suggestions in as humble and open-minded a way as possible.’

There are plenty of other musings in here, from responding to his early critics (with a touch of well-earned gloating) to his thoughts on being an author and not worrying too much about critics or awards. ‘A literary prize can turn the spotlight on a particular work, but it can’t breathe life into it,’ he states, later adding that prizes ‘mean vastly different things to different people,’ and ‘you can’t make sweeping statements about them, one way or another’ and advises artists to avoid that. There is an acknowledgement that prizes can keep you in print and get attention, but that writing to a prize shouldn’t be the intent. As always, its about being true to the art, to yourself, and if so, you will be true to the reader.

‘The novel I produce may be praised by people (if it turns out well), but no one seems to appreciate the process itself that led to it. That’s a burden a writer must carry alone.’

I enjoyed Novelist As a Vocation for its lovely first-hand insights into the mind of Murakami. It is more broad sweeping in ideas than necessarily craft based and is perhaps a book best suited to Murakami enthusiasts but one need not be in order to enjoy it. For those e looking for more insight into the craft of his novels might want to also consider checking out David Karashima’s Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami or Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words by one of Murakami’s English translators, Jay Rubin, though the big picture musings on the vocation of novelist is quite endearing and insightful here.

3.5/5

‘Writing fiction is an entirely personal process that takes place in a closed room. Shut away in a study, you sit at a desk and (in most cases) create an imaginary story out of nothing and put it in the form of writing. The formless and subjective is transformed into something tangible and objective (or at least something that seeks to be objective). Defined simply, this is the day-to-day work we novelists perform.’

[Liong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like his advice:

“I think the first task for aspiring novelists is to read tons of novels.”

This book is a personal account of how Haruki Murakami became a novelist, along with his thoughts on Japanese education and culture.

If you’re a Murakami fan, this is a must-read! 👍😍

You’ll gain deeper insight into his life, especially how and where he writes his books.

There’s a lot to learn from this book if you want to become a good writer like Haruki Murakami.

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nu sînt un fan al romanelor lui Haruki Murakami. Admir, în schimb, atitudinea lui profesionistă față de meseria scrisului. Toți japonezii suferă de „workaholism”, Haruki nu face excepție. Lucrează cel puțin 5-6 ore pe zi și nu se oprește pînă nu acoperă 10 pagini (fie că se simte inspirat, fie că nu). Oricum, nu crede în Muze...

Prozatorul japonez nu este un po(i)etician savant și recunoaște cu smerită ironie acest adevăr: „Puterea minţii mele e limitată. Nu prea reuşesc să leg teorii logice sau idei abstracte“.

Nu vom găsi, așadar, în cartea lui Murakami observații de naratologie, ca în lucrările lui Umberto Eco (Șase plimbări prin pădurea narativă e o capodoperă), Italo Calvino sau Mario Vargas Llosa. Dacă dorim amănunte cu privire la poziția „vocii narative” într-o povestire, nu la prozatorul japonez trebuie să le căutăm.

În schimb, dacă vrem să ghicim o parte din secretul faimei sale, n-ar fi rău să ținem minte o observație de bun simț. Murakami subliniază adesea - și pe bună dreptate - că prozatorul trebuie să aibă o bună condiție fizică (și mentală). Proza presupune lungi șederi la masa de scris, asumarea unor constrîngeri de ordin fizic, o rezistență de mucenic, un program de ascet. De obicei, prozatorii nu sînt noctambuli (excepția e Dostoievski) și nu frecventează cafenelele, nu-și sting of-ul în absint. Lasă aceste voluptăți poeților.

Cu excepția lui Flaubert (un sedentar incorigibil), toți prozatorii semnificativi au făcut multă mișcare. Tolstoi se plimba ore întregi prin pădurea de la Iasnaia Poliana, călărea, juca tenis și, la 67 de ani, se urca pe bicicletă pentru a-și întări musculatura gambelor și a-și amuza nepoții. Cît despre Haruki Murakami, toată lumea știe - dintr-o carte anterioară, Autoportretul scriitorului ca alergător de cursă lungă - că a participat la numeroase curse de maraton. Prozatorul trebuie să-și cultive rezistența fizică, prin gimastică, haltere, sumo, box, scufundări, înot. Un prozator care nu știe să înoate e nul...

Închei nota de față cu acest pasaj instructiv:

„Mi s-a întîmplat, cînd am lucrat la romane de mari dimensiuni, să mă închid în biroul meu și să stau singur, aplecat peste masa de scris, mai mult de un an (ba chiar doi, dacă nu trei). Mă trezeam dimineața devreme și timp de cinci sau șase ore mă concentram și scriam. Cînd ești atît de cufundat în lucru, creierul se supraîncălzește (începe să-ți frigă fruntea, la propriu) și, la un moment dat, ți se încețoșează mintea. De aceea eu după-amiaza dorm, ascult muzică sau citesc cărți inofensive. O asemenea viață este foarte sedentară și atunci ies zilnic să fac mișcare, cam o oră. Pe urmă îmi pregătesc lucrul pe a doua zi. Repet mereu aceleași activități, ca un obicei neschimbat” (pp.150-151).

Îmi place nespus modestia lui Haruki Murakami.

P. S. Prozatorul dă rar interviuri, ține și mai rar conferințe, nu participă cu plăcere la discuții și lansări.

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collation of essays by Haruki Murakami, put together it forms a blend of memoir, reflections on his life and advice for would be writers. As someone who read the author's novels and loved them in a much earlier period of my life, I have not read much of his more recent works, I was really looking forward to reading this in what in my view is a fascinating writer. This proved to be a mixed reading experience, I am not sure many aspiring authors would find his approach, of what can be primarily summed up as just get on with it, that useful. However, I was interested in him, such as his love of jazz, his belief on the importance of physical health and his running, his writing process, his sources of inspiration, and how a book comes alive for him and together for him, including his focus on characters. We follow his path to success, the critical reviews, and how he came to make it in America, and he offers his personal thoughts on disaparate range of subjects, but for me the highlights were the parts that focused on him, both personal and as a writer. I think these essays will appeal to fans of the author. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

[Milly Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haruki te quiero. Aunque me gusta más leer tus novelas también adoro saber sobre ti. Me das ternura. Te creo. No te disculpes tanto. Tú sigue escribiendo. Te agradezco infinitas horas de placer. Muchas veces quieres contar algo en tu libro pero te detienes diciendo que eso tomaría mucho espacio. Ojalá te hubieras tomado ese espacio porque yo quiero saber todo sobre ti. Espero que más adelante haya una continuación. Gracias por desnudarte, aunque sea un poco, frente a nosotros.

[Ken]

You could interpret the title of Haruki Murakami’s Novelist as a Vocation two ways: a.) as a vocation for you, the reader, or b.) as a vocation for me, Murakami, the writer. Reading the book itself, however, will prove that the latter proves more true than the former.

Which is not to say that there are no tips. If you’ve thought about writing a novel, even in a desultory, pipe-dream kind of way, you’ll find all the encouragement you need here. Murakami is of the school that most anyone who can put together sentences can write a novel. It may not be very good, but it will be a novel.

He also sides with the no-way-José to outlining crowd. Just write and follow where your prose leads you. He repeats what I’ve read many, many places before: Characters have a will of their own and will take over like mutineers on the H.M.S. Bounty. For beginners, that has got to be a relief. Sharing the job duties with your characters lightens the load, after all.

Specialized training? No need. MFA? BS (“Be serious.”) It’s all a rather freewheeling, Nike-like “Just do it” kind of affair here.

I can disparage this attitude easily because, well, it’s hole-ier than Swiss cheese that goes to church every Sunday. But then I recall a dear poetry friend (now passed, sadly) who encouraged my early poetry writing all the way to publication. Without the “Just do it and don’t worry about the Ivory Tower types guarding the gates” encouragement she offered, I wouldn't have come as far as I have today. To me, that unabashed “If you like doing it, write” attitude of hers was very much in the Murakami School of Wing-It-and-Have-Fun (even though the hours and loneliness might be brutal and take a toll on your physical health).

But really, this book, originally released seven years ago in Japan, is more memoir like in its approach. Only a few chapters dabble in “How To” mechanics. For the most part, it’s memoir-like, seeing writing through the lens of Murakami’s past books.

When I consider that lens and the fact that this book is a past publication, I wonder how much its rerelease is designed to help sales of Murakami’s oeuvre overall. Not a bad plan, really. Because no matter how laissez-faire or contradictory (at one point saying the act of daily writing can be painful after earlier calling it a joy) or opinionated (with lots of “this is just my opinion" caveats) the book can be, it is interesting to read because Murakami himself is interesting.

And he’s honest. He writes, “I’ve never had the sense that I’m writing for someone else. And I don’t particularly have that feeling even now.” Meaning: This book reads like a love song from Haruki to Haruki. That his legions of readers would love it just as well makes sense. Just know, if you go, that this book is not part of that large stable of books telling you how to write. It’s one man’s journey and, like any man’s journey, that alone can encourage you to write. Or not.

Also, be prepared for some score-settling between a Japanese writer and his country's literary gate keepers. Murakami has had the last laugh already, so I guess this is a victory lap of sorts, a dragging of Hector's body around Troy's battle-scarred walls.

I hope this review helps. If it doesn’t, that’s not my problem. (See, I can be Murakami-like myself! This review, after all, was written for me. If you enjoy, I'm very pleased, of course, but if not, SHRUG.)

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for advice on how to become a writer, this book will not provide all too much help - but that's also its strength, because Murakami, in his trademark humble and calm way, mostly shares personal experiences and attitudes regarding his writing process. Riffing on broad topics like creativity, target audiences, and marketing, the author goes off on several tangents, which gives the text a highly conversational feel. And Murakami is clearly the antidote to the (in Germany still highly relevant) genius cult: For him, writing is about talent, yes, but even more about discipline and determination. He stresses the importance of structure, toughness, and diligence, which isn't exactly glamorous, but certainly very honest and true. In addition (and of course), the process of writing to him also means joy.

While this is not the most comprehensive, stringent book about writing novels (it also suffers from a certain repetitiveness in places), I enjoyed spending time with the highly sympathetic, fascinating author and had fun gathering tidbits that further illuminate his literary work (and they are in there - this book will prove useful for Murakami exegetes). To me, a currently particularly relevant argument was Murakami's insistence that not only are his novels for everyone to enjoy, he as a writer can also be anyone he wants in his texts, from the 20-year-old lesbian to the old man: It's the beauty of literature, and the power of empathy that can render stories successful, not the close connection between writer and character (which is not an argument against amplifying marginalized voices; rather, both standpoints are equally true and do not contradict each other).

Murakami also writes about his success abroad and how he went about it, so let me mention that there's a German edition of this book, Von Beruf Schriftsteller, translated by the wonderful Ursula Gräfe (who told me about her work with Murakami and other Japanese lit-related things in this interview). I'd love to read a proper autobiography of Murakami at some point, although I doubt that he - a man who hardly gives any interviews - will write one. His life and work remain endlessly fascinating to me.

...oh, and thanks to this book, I can now confirm: Haruki highly appreciates the work of his evil twin Ryū Murakami!

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Novelist As a Vocation is a collection of 11 nonfiction essays by Haruki Murakami that are part memoir and part writing manual that was published in 2015 and has been translated and published into English for the first time this year. And I’d like to say it’s a cracking read - because I’ve been a Murakami fan for years, I’ve been looking forward to this one in particular for months and I read and loved Stephen King’s On Writing when I first read it years ago, which this book is basically Murakami’s version of - but unfortunately it’s not. Novelist As a Vocation is as dry and uninspiring to read as it is titled.

Right away in the first essay - Are Novelists Broad-Minded? - I found myself disagreeing with the author. He says that anyone can write and that writing a novel requires no training - just pick up a pen or keyboard and off you go. Which, in a technical sense, is true, but misleading to anyone who’s actually tried this and found that initial burst of enthusiasm peter out after a couple of days. Trying to wing it is an amateur mistake and I’m surprised a writer as experienced as Murakami would put this out there for wannabes to pursue as it’ll only lead to numerous dead-ends for who knows how long.

But then Murakami is only putting forward his own approach to writing, it turns out. And this aspect of the book is interesting, as any Murakami fan will find. Beginning with his first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, Murakami can apparently just start writing and a novel will fall together in the draft, with no planning or outline or anything. Then the penny drops: he does a TON of rewriting, which makes sense as there’s bound to be a lot of holes and repetition and ideas tossed out in favour of better ones, when you’re just throwing stuff onto the page without planning it.

It works for him - he compares it to jazz, the music he’s been a lifelong fan of, which makes sense - but I do wonder if it really all did just happen for him as seemingly easy as it did. The first time he writes a novel and it just works, gets published and he wins a literary prize - he didn’t write before, stories, etc. when he was younger? Come on. Or maybe he’s telling the truth and he’s simply special. Could be.

But that superficial glaze becomes an increasing annoyance throughout. It’s only in a later essay that he concedes that there is a gestation period for ideas but that this is an “invisible process”, so presumably then he’s just thinking up the idea for the novel, short story, whatever, without taking notes, and then setting off. So there is actually more to the process, he just didn’t bother to elaborate until later, for no reason. That’s when he does elaborate because other times he writes incredibly frustrating things like:

“After a great deal of trial and error - I will save the details of this process for another occasion” on p.82 in So What Should I Write About? and “I’ll delve into that topic more some other time” on p.180 in Who Do I Write For?

Are you kidding me - when would be a better time to go into details of your process than in a book about your process?!? How many more books like this are you likely to write - if not now, when?!

Or there’s the repetition of points he made in earlier essays. In Regarding Schools, he talks about how nobody really needs a qualification to write, and instead advocates for reading a lot to start with to see how a novel is structured - both points he made before, in the same book.

It’s stuff like this that makes me believe him when he says he just wings it because that’s the effect reading some of these essays is like - a lot of half-baked ideas that he never got around to properly forming or else just goes around and around making a lot of elementary and unremarkable points.

Like in So What Should I Write About? when he suggests that wannabes read and write a lot and says that, in Who Do I Write For?, he writes for himself, but also readers too. Zzz… Some essays like What Kind of Characters Should I Include? are stunningly banal where he talks about how discovering the third person changed the style of stories he told. This is a guy who’s supposedly read a lot but it never occurred to him to switch from first person to third person - had he never come across this before in other books?!

He is prone to saying weird things though. Like in On Originality where he says on p.59 that The Beatles only achieved classic status after the general public had agreed they were good - but they were always considered good! They were huge when they were only in their 20s and only became more famous over time. He makes it sound like there was some question over whether their music was good or not when there never was - only time made them classic.

And then there’s the odd chip on the shoulder he seems to harbour about Japanese critics. This crops up in numerous essays where he writes in On Literary Prizes how he doesn’t care about not winning the Akutagawa Prize in the 1970s (that’s why he’s writing about it still, 50 years later), and frequently mentions unkind things critics say about his work. I always wondered why he moved around so much, writing his books in Italy and America, and it turns out he was escaping wrathful Japanese critics (though he seems to have made his peace with them now, or vice versa, as he has been living in Japan for some time now).

It’s just surprising how much he’s let bad reviews affect his life. Grow up dude. Nobody cares about critics - you think I have a fraction of this guy’s net worth or audience? We’ll bitch and moan but it never outlasts the work itself and he should have known that then. Oh, and his conclusion on literary prizes? They don’t really matter but they also mean different things to different people. Great. That kind of bland summation is endemic in this book and turned me from being indifferent to becoming increasingly hostile to what turned out to be a stupefyingly vapid and conventional book from a writer who’s (mostly) anything but.

He occasionally stumbles across a thoughtful musing, like on p.68 about expressing yourself freely:

‘It’s probably best not to start out by asking “What am I seeking?” Rather it’s better to ask “Who would I be if I weren’t seeking anything?” and then try to visualize that aspect of yourself.’

And, if you’re a fan of the author, the insight into his process may be compelling. He writes the equivalent of 1600 English words a day, every day, and initially wrote Hear the Wind Sing in English before translating it into Japanese - his limited English making for a more bare narrative approach that stopped him from overwriting, as he found he was doing in Japanese and perhaps led to its eventual success.

A lot of his memoir stuff though isn’t that exciting. He was a bad student at school, took many years more than usual to graduate university, worked at a jazz cafe prior to becoming a writer, and the decision to write his first novel occurred out of the blue during a baseball game he was watching. He writes about the importance of physical health and mental toughness in becoming a successful novelist, something he’s written about at length in his previous nonfiction book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. He was surprisingly tactical in his approach to reaching a wide English-speaking audience, by having already-translated manuscripts to hand before approaching powerful people connected to famous authors he’d translated into Japanese.

There’s really not a lot here though that’ll grab most people, including Murakami fans. Many of Murakami’s revelations could’ve been condensed into a single essay, so that a lot of the time you’re having to indulge a dreary old man’s ramblings to make some very unimpressive statements. His insights and processes are things you can find in most how-to writing manuals already out there. In fact I would say Stephen King’s On Writing is a vastly more successful book of this type, both as a memoir (which is short but riveting) and a how-to manual (not in terms of helpfulness, which it isn’t really - unless you want to write like King, ie. badly and excessively - but in terms of saying the same things Murakami is saying but more succinctly and memorably).

Novelist As a Vocation is poor both as a memoir - which is generally vague and dull - and a how-to manual on writing - which is surface-level at best and fails to address the many nuances that goes into writing a novel. If he makes one good point, it’s that writing novels doesn’t have to be an art - something I think his ever-villainous critics seem to have driven home to him over the years, but which also may ease the pressure on writers starting out. And I think most people wanting to learn how to write would do well to steer clear of procrastination-inducing books like this and figure out what methods work for themselves by actually doing it - which is Murakami’s long drawn-out conclusion as well (the latter, not the former), and which is also one that’s echoed from numerous other books of this ilk, again, typical of much of this book’s material: derivative and underwhelming.

[Ángela Arcade · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Una zambullida por la mente de un escritor fuera de serie; un viaje por sus procesos cognitivos frente a la creación literaria y la sociedad en la que esta prolifera. No es una guía para escritores, pero es una experiencia que a veces refleja nuestro sentir, y a veces propone otra visión sobre el oficio de escribir. Aprendí un montón de este librito.

[Pakinam Mahmoud · Rating 4 out of 5]

"أريد أن أفتح نافذةً في أرواح قرائي يدخل منها هواءٌ منعش. هذا ما يخطر لي، وما أرجو حدوثه حين أكتب، تمامًا وبكلِّ بساطة.."
وهو دة فعلاً اللي بتعمله فينا كتبك يا موراكامي❤️

بقالي كتير أوي مش بقرأ كويس و لو قرأت أي حاجة مش بقدر و لا بعرف أكتب عليها أي مراجعة...
بس موراكامي قدر ببساطة يخليني عاوزة أكتب ولو حاجة بسيطة علي هذا الكتاب الممتع...

مهنتي هي الرواية..كتاب عبارة عن مجموعة من المقالات بدأ موراكامي في تجميعها بداية من عام ٢٠١٠...
الكتاب حتتعرف فيه علي شخصية هاروكي و إزاي بيكتب رواياته..يمكن في حاجات كنت أعرفها عنه من قبل كدة بس عرفت عنه حاجات أكتر و أعتقد أي حد حيقرأ الكتاب دة مش بس حيحبه لكن كمان حيحترمه و يتعلم منه ..

"أنَّنا لا نحصل في حياتنا إلَّا على فرصةٍ واحدة، فقد صمَّمتُ منذ البداية على أن أمضي قُدُمًا، وأفعل ما أريد بالطريقة التي أريد. فللنظام أن يسير على طريقته، وأسير أنا على طريقتي.."

موراكامي قارئ نهم..رياضي ..يعشق الجري..مش بيفرق معاه خالص الجوائز و لكن بيفرق معاه اكتر تأثير كتبه علي قراءه في كل أنحاء العالم..ترجمت كتبه إلي أكثر من ٥٠ لغة ..يبلغ من العمر الآن حوالي ٧٥ سنة ولكنه مازال عنده طاقة ايجابية غير عادية ويري إنه مازال كاتبًا يتطوَّر ولا توجد حدودٌ لمدى النمو الذي قد يحققه..

أسَّس نفسه ككاتب في اليابان أولاً، ثم حوَّل تركيزه إلى الخارج ووسَّع قاعدة قرَّائه و يقول إنه بعد كل ذلك سيغوص أكثر في أعماق نفسه و يستكشف المزيد ،فهناك الأرض الجديدة المجهولة التي لم يستكشفها بعد.😍

واحد من كتابي المفضلين و أكيد حبي له مجاش من فراغ ❤️

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents a collection of essays written by Murakami for some Japanese magazine. This is not a bad thing at all, but it shows - the author is repeating himself a lot. That's not a very big deal though for a fan.
What we got here is a self portrait of a down to earth and very humble person, the one that can't be faked. Murakami is writing and talking from the heart and not for a second he's boasting. He's just saying things and sharing his musings on basically everything, not just writing, with readers. If someone doesn't like him or his books - that's their right, but not my problem. I definitely enjoyed this one. Made me nostalgic for some of his older books...

[Harun Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

মুরাকামির লেখালেখির শুরু, পুরস্কার পাওয়া না পাওয়া, জনপ্রিয়তা, পাঠকের সাথে যোগাযোগ, অনূদিত হয়ে তার লেখার সারাবিশ্বে ছড়িয়ে পড়া, উপন্যাস লেখার প্রক্রিয়া, উপন্যাসের চরিত্রদের বৈশিষ্ট্য, লেখার বিষয়বস্তু, নিয়মানুবর্তিতা সবই বইতে আলোচিত হয়েছে। বর্ণিত অনেক ঘটনা আগে থেকে জানা থাকায় পুরো বইটি সমানভাবে উপভোগ করতে পারিনি। তবে কিছু জায়গায় রোমাঞ্চিত হয়েছি। যেমন - একটা উপন্যাস রচনা কীভাবে লেখকের জন্য মানসভ্রমণ হয়ে ওঠে ও কীভাবে লেখক লিখতে লিখতে নিজেকে নতুনভাবে আবিষ্কার করতে থাকেন তার বিবরণ স্বাদু ও অন্তর্ভেদী। সবচেয়ে ভালো লেগেছে দলছুট প্রবন্ধ "regarding schools." জাপানিদের সবাই এতো ভালো বলে।অথচ এদেশে আত্মহত্যার হার অনেক বেশি। কেন বেশি সেটা এই প্রবন্ধটা পড়লে কিঞ্চিৎ বোধগম্য হবে। জাপানে সবকিছু হতে হয় নিখুঁত, সবকিছু হতে হয় একদম সময়মতো। একদম নিখুঁত হওয়ার চাপ, একদম অন্যদের মতো সফল হওয়ার প্রত্যাশার দুরূহ ভার বহু জাপানি সহ্য করতে পারেন না।ব্যক্তিস্বাতন্ত্র্য রক্ষাও একটা বড় ও নিষ্ফল সংগ্রাম হয়ে দাঁড়ায়। মুরাকামি এ অবস্থা উত্তরণের আশাবাদ ব্যক্ত করেছেন।

আরেকটা কথা, মানুষ মুরাকামি ও লেখক মুরাকামির মধ্যে আদতে কোনো পার্থক্য নেই।দুই মুরাকামিই সৎ, অকপট ও অফুরন্ত রত্নভাণ্ডার।

[محمد خالد شريف · Rating 4 out of 5]

"أريد لقرائي أن يستطعموا هذه العاطفة نفسها حين يقرأون كتبي. أريد أن أفتح نافذة في أرواحهم، يدخل منها هواء منعش. هذا ما يخطر لي، وما أرجو حدوثه حين أكتب، تماماً وبكل بساطة".

حين قرأت سيرة هاروكي الرياضية بعنوان: "ما أتحدث عنه حين أتحدث عن الجري" وكيفية محافظته على جسده، من خلال رياضة الجري، شعرت بعطش شديد لأن أعرف أكثر عن حياته، خارج ما يطرحه في كتبه من حكايات مجنونة أمتعتنا وجعلته من كتابنا المفضلين، فجاء كتاب "مهنتي هي الرواية" وهو يضم مقالات فيما يُشبه سيرة كتابية عن هاروكي وحياته ومقتطفات من نشأته، وكيف أنه أصبح ذائع الصيت نتيجة مخاطرة كبيرة، حيث أنه في أحد الأيام قرر أن يكون روائياً وهو يشاهد مباراة ما في أحد ملاعب البيسبول، إلهام ظهر له فجأة، وتمسك به، بل وتجرأ إلى أكثر من ذلك، أن يهجر عمله بالكامل في مقابل أن يكون روائياً في المقام الأول، فتشعر ومنذ البداية أن حياة هاروكي مثل الرواية، فمثل هذه القرارات يحتاج إلى قدر كبير من الخيال والجرأة لتتخذه، وبسبب هذا القرار، أصبح لدينا كاتب بحجم "هاروكي موراكامي".

تتنوع فصول الكتاب ولا تتخذ ترتيباً معيناً لفترات حياته، بل تتأرجح كالبندول بين الماضي البعيد والماضي القريب، في إطار عنوان الفصل، يحكي هاروكي عن بدايات حياته، علاقته السيئة مع المدرسة والدراسة، أسباب قلة ظهوره الإعلامية وفي المحافل الأدبية خاصة، وبشكل عام، علاقته بالجوائز الأدبية ونظرته وفلسفته لها، كيف يكتب رواياته من وأين يستقي شخصياته؟ وكيف يكون الكاتب أصيلاً في محتوى روايته؟ وما الذي ينبغي للكاتب أصلاً أن يكتب عنه؟ وعلاقة الرياضة والجري بالكتابة؟ وبعض المحطات الهامة في حياته، وكيف تحول من كاتب محلي في اليابان إلى كاتب عالمي ينتظر عديد القراء حول العالم كتاباته بشغف كبير؟ هذه أسئلة كثيرة يصحبك موراكامي في رحلة إلى ماضي حياته ليجيب عنها بطريقة ممتعة كالعادة فلا تشعر بأن الكتاب ما يُشبه سيرة ذاتية أو مقالات، فحياة هاروكي نفسها أشبه بالخيال!

وكيف لا؟ فعندما تنظر إلى تفاصيل حياته وطريقة كتابته للرواية تشعر بأن حول هذا الرجل قدراً هائلاً من السحر الممتع، فمثلاً يذكر أنه في أحدى قصصه القصيرة، تمردت شخصية ما فتحولت من قصة قصيرة إلى رواية بسبب جملة واحدة، وهذه دلالة كبيرة على أي حد يتماهى "هاروكي موراكامي" مع شخصيات روايته، فيغوص في كل حكاية وكأنه هو نفسه داخلها وليس كاتبها.

ختاماً..
قرأت كتابين لهاروكي يتحدث فيهم عن حياته وسيرته الرياضية والروائية ولا زلت أشعر بالعطش، أريد أن أعرف أكثر، وأريد أن أكون معه بداخل تفاصيل حياته، ما يتذكره عن طفولته ومراهقته وشبابه، وحتى كبر سنه وطريقة تعامله وعيشه منذ أصبح كاتباً معروفاً، ولا أعلم هل سيتحقق كل ذلك في كتاب آخر، أم إنها ستظل أحلام مستحيلة عصية علي، فأتركها للخيال، ليجيب على تلك الأسئلة ويُكمل الفراغات الغامضة عن واحد من كتابي المفضلين: هاروكي موراكامي.

3.5/5

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and fun reacquaintance with my friend, Mr. Murakami. I enjoyed some of the bits about his idea of what a novelist is, how to write a novel, what characters to include, and who to write for. And I’ll tell ya (with only a tiny bit of facetiousness on my end) that my previous assumptions about his process weren’t too far off the mark. What is his process? Well, at base, just vibes. Just vibes.

Outside of vibes (and lots of vibes), there won’t be too much to sink your teeth into. The aspiring novelist or writer may find good nuggets here and there (such as “read as much as you can”, hardly a novel idea), but this one is generally just a victory lap for his works and his remarkable career. I was okay with it.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook….read by Kotaro
Watanabe
……7 hours and 35 minutes

First published in 2015 in Japanese.
I’m glad it was translated in English.
I enjoyed Murakami’s thoughts- his feelings - his compassion….and his professional views about writing a novel.

As purely a reader (and only a sharing-type-writer) ….
I totally get what he was saying about the difference between the person who writes one novel, maybe even two novels than the person who has invested his time over a 30 year. (which Murakami has done)

I loved learning about Murakami’s younger days - his frugal life with his wife . . .
“When the nights were cold, we clang to each other with our cat”.

When even younger —
Murakami sounded like an adorable, hopeless, spoiled, only child, unaware kid — ordinary — in the best of ways.

The gritty-street-wise, young man, was a better fit for Murakami than studying at the University.
And….
“Nobody could take away his love of books and music”.

I loved that he ran a jazz-cafe.
Haha….
….He said he was screwed over but he didn’t get into it much…..
He does have one redeeming feature, he says…
“I work my butt off when it’s something I like”.

When he talked about the literary world, I was a little less interested and don’t know if I fully understand what he was saying….
…. Other than he removed himself in the literary world. He was clear he never set out to be a writer in the first place.
“He was just an ordinary guy who happened to top off a novel”.
He also had a full-time job, and he was too busy to do anything other than focus on his own work.

Murakami’s thoughts about originality was interesting— with examples about the work of ‘The Beach Boys’ and ‘The Beatles’.

This was a wonderful ‘non-novel’ about novel writing.
I laughed!
I smiled!
I found the audiobook endearing!!

[inciminci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murakami telling he loves readers who read his books, don't just toss them aside when they're done, re-consider and think about what he wrote while other authors attack reviewers on GR and twitter 🥲
I went to a book store today after work and bought Norwegian Wood after reading that.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book comprises a series of essays on the author’s thoughts on writing. They’re structured quite informally, being almost conversational in their style. Murakami reflects on his writing life and details how he prepares for and executes particular tasks, be they writing a full novel or something smaller. A few things struck me:

1. In an early piece he ventures that regular readers amount to only one in twenty of the general population. That seems very low to me and might be challenged by a small amount of independent research I’ve carried out (i.e. just a basic Google search). It seems that the figure is hard to pin down and is impacted by such matters who to include or exclude, levels of literacy in some parts of the world etc. But if true, does that make us members of a fairly exclusive club?

2. I didn’t realise that he works as a translator (English to Japanese) in addition to producing his own compositions. He fits this in around his other writing tasks, sometimes to give his mind some release (a breaker) from the intense focus he has on whatever else he’s working on.

3. The number of re-writes he goes through when working on a novel makes it seem like a totally exhausting process. When he’s completed around four re-writes he then seeks views from trusted sources (notably his wife) before launching into even more re-writes. Then he gets the text translated from Japanese to English – using a tried and tested (to him) translator – and only then will he provide a copy to an editor. Then the work with the editor begins…

4. He uses a process of filing away useful pieces of information or thoughts into mental cabinets – he doesn’t write this stuff down. When he’s got enough information stored – but not before – he’ll begin writing. For his novels he hoards his most preciously guarded cabinets.

5. He runs every day for about an hour and has done for thirty years. He believes that for him to write successfully he has to take care of his body as well as his mind. Note: his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running was an inspiration for me to complete my first ultramarathon, something he’s done on a number of occasions.

Overall, a fascinating insight into the mind of this wonderful and, I think, truly original author.

My thanks to Random House UK for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lee Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Went to a respected independent bookstore in Princeton NJ, thinking I would perform a sort of community service and buy two new hardcover novels. Balked at the price. $28 each? Just couldn't do it. Instead I picked up a sweet "storybook" edition of Helen DeWitt's The English Understand Wool, which I had read twice as an ebook, and this, in part because when I picked it up I read that Murakami has a minimum word count of 1600 words a day. I've recently established a 300 words a day minimum quota, so opening to this page, my eye going directly to Murakami's minimum word count, seemed like a sign to acquire this. I also enjoyed his book about writing and running back in the early days of this website (2008), and I always feel like I should know his novels better than I do.

Single lingering impression: author does not once acknowledge that he does not have children. At no point does he address the reader who may have parental obligations, never mentions anything related, which makes a lot of what he says about his process and his movement through life as a writer seem sort of stunted by his total freedom. He can move from Japan when he wants to, he can spend six hours writing and then run an hour every day, and then nap or read or translate or whatever, largely because he doesn't have children. Or at least that's what I kept saying aloud to the text. Dude, you clearly don't have kids . . .

Otherwise, this is perfectly enjoyable, if not all that illuminating. The sort of thing you can read as your child streams Octonauts and screams at you every few minutes to give her the Switch even though her behavior at school that day precludes an hour of electronics. Word count is padded by self-mitigation and humble qualifications that get a little irritating, but his intuitive, obsessive, committed respect for the mystery of his production and even his popularity is all admirable and interesting enough. It's all very readable but not difficult or technical. At times he diverges in territory that doesn't quite seem related but it's no problem to accelerate one's reading pace through prose like this. Toward the end, particularly talking about his relationships with the most respected people and publications in the New York literary world, it all starts to sound somewhat excessive, like bragging, although he is proud of what he's achieved over thirty years of consistent committed work, always attempting to extend what he can do.

Overall, an impulse buy in an independent bookstore that yielded more or less what I expected it would: a semi-inspiring example of how an idiosyncratic unconventional author has managed to do it for decades.

[Odai Al-Saeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

هنا موراكامي الكاتب يشرح بفلسفة مترفة تلك الطريقة التي يصنع بها حنكته , يتحدث بعفوية عن تاريخه الروائي بانسيابية مفعمة عن روح التجربة التجريبية سواء اتفق معه من اتفق أو اختلف الآخرون ... أشعر أحيانا أن التعبير يخونني في وصف سحر ما ينتجه هذا الكاتب ... رائع

[Amabilis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murakami je dugo kombinirao ovu knjigu, pisao između pisanja drugih knjiga, kao neku svoju potrebu da najprije sebi, a onda i svojim čitateljima približi sve ono što ga je dovelo gdje sada je,ali i načine kako je to ostvario. Pritom Murakami ne dijeli savjete mladim piscima ili onima koji bi to htjeli biti, jer je kako sam kaže nepopravljivi individualist i uvijek sve radi prema onomu što sam osjeća, bez obzira na tuđa mišljenja. On piše o svom putu, svojim odabirima i bez puno uzročno posljedičnih pojašnjenja govori da je slijedio sebe, svoj osjećaj. Kad razmislim, ništa drugo i ne postoji istinski za svaku osobu, osim našeg osjećaja, jedino što je stvarno je taj osjećaj, sva tuđa mišljenja i kritike su samo prdež u vjetru, u odnosu na našu istinu. zanimljivo je kako Mukrakami smatra da za biti pisac romana uopće nije potrebno biti oštrouman, kao recimo u točno definiranim tehničkim strukama, već treba biti dovoljno spor kako bi stigao sve promotriti bez osuđivanja, biti oko koje ima pogled sa svih strana.
Zanimljiv je opis načina kako Murakami piše romane, njegovi rituali i discipliniranost, a meni se sviđa kako je njegova žena taj prvi i glavni korektiv njegovih romana. On nju ovdje spominje, ali možda i nedovoljno, čini mi se da je ona taj sigurni stup kada on zapetljan u maštu odluta, razumno mu ukaže na sve stvari koje bi mogao popraviti ili urediti.
Murakami najviše cijeni svoje čitatelje i njihove utiske na njegove knjige, ali ne piše radi njih, već kako sam kaže radi sebe, to je jednostavno njegova potreba. Iako se u nekim dijelovima čini neiskren i nerazumljiv poput opisa da je zaboravio na roman koji je napisao, ili da je skroz isključio iz pamćenja neke stvari, valjda je i to moguće. Murakami ne crpi snagu pisanja iz sjećanja poput nekih pisaca, nego namaštava likove i svijet pa je očito njegova potreba da ostane "prazan" iskrena, dok pisci koji su opterećeni svojim osobnim doživljajima potaknuti da se "isprazne" preko pisanja.
Murakami u jednom dijelu kaže ,citiram "Nikako da na miru predahnem (kada ovako pogledam unazad, sve mi se čini da je upravo to "nikako da na miru predahnem" lajtmotiv mog života.". Posljednja pjesma koju je napisao Ivo Andrić 1973. ima naziv "Ni bogova ni molitava". Ide ovako:
Ni bogova ni molitava!
Pa ipak biva ponekad da čujem
Nešto kao molitven šapat u sebi.

To se javlja moja stara i večno živa želja
Javlja odnekud iz dubina
I tihim glasom traži malo mesta
U nekom od beskrajnih vrtova rajskih,
Gde bih najposle našao ono
Što sam oduvek uzalud tražio ovde:
Širinu i prostranstvo, otvoren vidik,
Malo slobodna daha.

Zanimljivo je kako piscima, iako su jedna od najosamljenijih bića na svijetu, uvijek nedostaje daha i samoće. Valjda nam nikad dosta onoga što nam predstavlja sve.

[Matthew Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

123rd book of 2022.

Naturally this is marketed as 'writing advice' more than anything else, but the title is Novelist as a Vocation, and therefore some of the later essays do lean more in that direction, though more on this later. Murakami remains in my head as the writer I fell in love with in my early 20s and devoured at university. On several occasions I remember sitting on the huge beanbag we had in my student house with a glass of rum and coke and reading his books cover-to-cover, like some Murakami character myself. These are, of course, very fond memories. Sadly, after not reading him for some time (I actually read his novels in order of publication, starting right at the beginning), I read the next one in my list, his newer beast, 1Q84, and almost hated it. I found myself seeing and criticising all the things I had seen Murakami criticised for in the past. I presumed my phase was over, doomed to forever remain as an 'early 20s' thing. I'm still yet to read his latest two novels.

And yet, when I saw this being advertised, I felt the rare itch of needing to buy a new book. On Sunday, I found myself in a new (I think) bookshop in the small English town of Arundel, with this new Murakami book on the shelf, and thought, actually more than Murakami and my desire to read it, I wanted to support the establishment. I almost never buy books at full price (or at all: most of my reading directions are controlled by what is available at my local library). Having studied Creative Writing for 4 years, and frequently writing and submitting short stories myself (with, so far, not masses amount of luck), I thought my old Murakami could help me. After all, his book on running once motivated me to buy expensive running shoes and start jogging when I lived away from home, a habit that didn't survive my return. The early essays do have Murakami's simple stoicism I once fell in love with. It reminded me of his old characters I used to read, their simple, selfish and humble way of life that for some reason felt relatable to me at university. I think Murakami is the perfect writer for our early 20s. For a man who isn't overly fond of the public eye, the essays are quite personal and reflect a lot about his writing life and his career. This would be my first point in a succinct review: this book is probably only worthwhile to an already established fan of Murakami. One essay is his reflections on schooling and in particular, Japanese schooling. The final essay is a walkthrough of his US breakout and success. Looking back, there isn't much hard 'advice', but really just Murakami musing pleasantly in his musing way. He has always been very similar to his characters, after all. Google 'Murakami Bingo' and you'll encounter his trademarks quickly enough.

So this is a book for fans. Anyone looking for real writing advice from him will possibly be disappointed. There's some good bits, some interesting bits too (by interesting I often mean, bits I don't necessarily agree with). In the beginning he talks about the type of person who has what it takes to be a writer and Murakami argues that those who are very/too clever, do not have what it takes. The novel, he argues, is a long way of working out what someone wants to say; therefore, someone smart can already formulate their ideas and have them ready to be presented: this defeats the need for a novel, according to Murakami. He also talks a lot about the unconscious in writing and how organic the process is, which was interesting (and slightly too late) as I wrote one of my MA essays on unconscious writing and Finnegans Wake. To Murakami, writing is just taking lots of random things out of a proverbial garage and assembling them into something magical.

[marko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otkako sam postao pisac i počeo redovno da objavljujem knjige, naučio sam jednu lekciju. Kako god nešto da napišete, na kraju će negde neko o vama govoriti loše. Na primer, ako napišete dug roman, reći će vam: "Predugo. Razvučeno. Sigurno je moglo i da se prepolovi." Ako napišete kratko, onda kažu: "Središnji deo je slab. Šupalj. Jasno je da nema snagu." Za isti roman na jednom mestu mi kažu: "Ponavlja se, prerasta u kliše. Dosadno je", dok mi ne drugom mestu govore: "Prethodni je bio bolji. Nova postavka se vrti uprazno." Kad malo razmislim, već oko dvadeset i pet godina mi govore: "Murakami, ti kasniš za sadašnjim vremenom. Dosta je." Lako je prigovarati (možete da kažete što god vam padne na pamet a da ne preuzimate nikakvu odgovornost), ali ako onaj kome se prigovara obraća pažnju na svaku reč, to uopšte neće biti dobro po njegovo zdravlje. Zato glasno treba reći: "Baš me briga! Ionako će mi svašta reći. Zato ću pisati ono o čemu želim da pišem i onako kako ja to hoću!"

- Haruki Murakami, "Pisac kao profesija"

[Marijana☕✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ova ocena neka se protumači kao "nisam dala subjektivnosti da prevagne", a na blogu možete saznati nešto više o samoj knjizi.

[Arelis Uribe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me costó leer este libro, tuve que dejar de leer en la página 200 y empezar todo de nuevo porque estaba leyendo como cuando tenía diez años y leía de corrido sin entender, solo avanzando para terminar el libro y dar la prueba. Lo que me distrajo y me impidió enganchar es la voz, la traductora o traductor. Usa demasiados adverbios de mente y eso me cansa, siento que es recurso de alguien que reposa demasiado en caracterizaciones fáciles. En fin. He leído dos libros de Murakami, los dos de no ficción: Underground y éste. Y mientras leía, pensaba en la distancia de la traducción. Una nunca lee a Murakami, una lee una traducción del japonés al inglés y del inglés al español. Entonces hay muchas personas entre el autor y quien lo lee. Una accede a las ideas en el sentido más absoluto, limpio y sintético. Una accede a "el qué", al contenido, pero a menos que lea a Murakami en japonés nunca voy a poder acceder a su estética, a sus formas, al sabor de su prosa, al color de su voz, a su cadencia y su musicalidad. Es una pena, es el desafío de la traducción. Superado eso (obviado, más bien), me decidí a releerlo y soltar sin pensar mucho en la prosa (que me cargó). Igual me pude entregar al libro. Y lo disfruté. Tiene frases lindas, reflexiones con las que me sentí identificada y experiencias que espero que me pasen o disposiciones a las que quiero aspirar, como que me importe cada vez menos la crítica (proveniente de un círculo de autoridad o de lectores comunes) o entregarme más al proceso de la escritura, a disfrutar esto porque es lo que amo. Un amigo me preguntó si me había gustado más éste o el de Stephen King, On writing y ni siquiera lo había pensado, creo que los rankings no tienen sentido, pero ya, juguemos a eso un poco y sí, me gustó más el de Stephen King. Ese está dividido en dos partes, la primera es una novela autobiográfica en la que King cuenta cómo se convierte en escritor y tiene eso, que me imagino que es talento de best seller, que es lograr encontrar en la corriente subterránea de la no ficción los componentes de la ficción (a alguien le leí esa frase, no recuerdo a quién), entonces tiene cierres con golpes de efecto, coincidencias, suspenso, pausas, giros inesperados. Es un maestro de contar bien, de agarrar la realidad y convertirla en el guión de una película hollywoodense. La segunda parte es un ensayo, también autobiográfico, sobre el ejercicio de escribir y tiene tips y consejos y aprendizajes. No sé po, habla sobre la pertinencia (o no) de que incluso las frases tengan estructura con remate en el final o de la importancia de la estructura sujeto-verbo-predicado. Es un gran libro. En cambio, Murakami divaga mucho, repite como cinco veces que es escritor de novelas hace 35 años. No entiendo por qué necesita repetirlo tanto si ya lo dijo una vez. El estilo de Murakami es más de ir avanzando nomás, sin cabecearse demasiado en esos jueguitos narrativos que llenan las historias de efectos especiales. Y qué patuda de criticarlo porque yo también escribo así. Pero filo. Me gustó, pero hay libros metaliterarios que me gustan más.
Ahora, las frases que subrayé.

"Los escritores no destacan por tener un punto de vista parcial sobre las cosas".
"(La escritura) supone una cadena infinita de paráfrasis".
"Los escritores son seres necesitados de algo innecesario".
"La vida no transcurre como uno la imagina".
"Éramos jóvenes y ansiábamos hacer cosas a pesar de que nadie ganó dinero con ello".
"Las palabras tienen poder y ese poder hay que saber usarlo".
"Por muy ocupado que estuviera, por muy apretada que resultara mi vida, leer suponía la misma alegría que escuchar música".
"Es natural que fuera incapaz de producir algo decente. Nunca antes lo había hecho y es prácticamente imposible lograrlo a la primera".
"Olvida todas tus ideas preconcebidas sobre las novelas y la literatura y escribe a placer con total libertad sobre lo que sientes, sobre lo que ocurre en tu mente".
"Me servía de las palabras más sencillas posibles para transmitir contenidos no tan sencillos".
"No hace falta recurrir a palabras difíciles ni a giros complejos para que la gente te entienda".
"El idioma es fuerte por naturaleza".
"Sin ese espíritu aventurero nunca nacerá nada nuevo".
"Quizá no escribo del todo con la cabeza, sino con cierto sentido corporal, como si fijase el ritmo con unos buenos acordes y me dejase llevar después por el poder de la improvisación".
"Al escribirla no me divertía porque lo hacía forzando un estilo que no me salía de forma natural".
"Si escribir no resulta divertido, no tiene ningún sentido hacerlo".
"Lo que suceda a partir de ahora simplemente sucederá" [amo esta frase, es una lección de vida contra la ansiedad].
"Sin cierta arrogancia es imposible convertirse en escritor".
"Hay cosas mucho más importantes para un escritor que los premios literarios. Una de esas cosas es tener claro en tu interior que con tus manos produces algo con sentido".
"La calidad de una obra literaria no se puede materializar en una forma concreta, pero un premio o una medalla parecen otorgarle una".
"La responsabilidad más grande del escritor es para consigo mismo, con su trabajo, con alcanzar la máxima calidad de la que es capaz y ofrecer el resultado a los lectores".
"Opiniones diversas esconden circunstancias diversas, posiciones ante la vida divergentes, pensamientos y formas de vivir peculiares".
"La creación se refiere a romper con un punto de vista existente".
"El trabajo de un escritor se parece, en mayor o menor medida, al de los ilusionistas".
"Decidí hacer lo que quería y cómo lo quería (porque) sólo se vive una vez".
"Escribir a mi manera, escribir lo que me apetecía".
"Escudriñar lo que hay en ti en lugar de sumar algo a ti".
"No codiciaba nada. No sabía nada del panorama literario del momento. Sólo pretendía escribir algo a mi manera y reflejar con ello el estado de mi corazón" [ay, ésta me mató, porque así me sentía yo antes de Quiltras].
"Los materiales se acumulan en mi interior, como el agua del deshielo se acumula en los embalses. Entonces, un buen día me siento a la mesa de trabajo incapaz de aguantar más y me pongo a escribir".
"Adquirir el hábito de observar en todos sus detalles los fenómenos y acontecimientos que tienen lugar delante de nuestros ojos. Cualquier cosa, por pequeña que sea, de lo que ocurre con las personas que le rodean a uno, reflexionar sobre ello".
"Construir frases, es decir, escribir".
"Conserva lo importante, elimina lo superfluo".
"James Joyce aseguraba que la imaginación es memoria".
"Construía frases como si tocara música".
"Las diferencias entre una y otra no son tantas como para convertir esto en un problema".
"Cualquier cuestión que implique experiencias es crucial para un escritor".
"Sólo sé escribir así y no me queda más remedio que hacerlo, ¿qué tiene eso de malo?".
"Por mi edad no creo que llegue a verlo, espero que alguien pueda verlo por mí".
"Dar forma a ciertas cosas que habitan en mi corazón".
"Una historia que podría llegar a cambiarme".
"Isaak Dinsen afirmó: 'Escribo todos los días poco a poco, sin esperanza ni desesperanza'".
"Es imposible alcanzar la perfección en una frase".
"Las opiniones son el mundo en sí mismo".
"Raymond Carver (...) escribió haciendo suyo el leitmotiv de otro autor: 'Al fin he entendido que una novela se perfecciona después de releerla, de quitarle algunas comas y volver a leerla una vez más poner las comas en el mismo sitio done estaban'".
"He escrito siempre lo que quería, cuando quería y como quería".
"Las críticas no van a lograr que pierda la confianza ni que me dé por vencido".
"Me he esforzado hasta el último aliento para dar lo mejor de mí mismo".
"Una vez que se empieza a escribir quien lo hace está solo".
"Hay que escribir una novela para comprender la dimensión de la soledad".
"Una asociación de alcohólicos anónimos en Estados Unidos tiene un eslogan que dice así: 'One day at a time'. El único camino es mantener el ritmo, resistir con firmeza el paso de los días".
"El fundamento de todo escritor es contar una historia".
"Por mucho que me repita que hoy no debería beber, al final saco una cerveza de la nevera y me la tomo" [YO].
"Solo puedo escribir de esa manera, solo puedo vivir así".
"Mi punto de vista sobre la realidad se enriqueció al experimentar como propios los sentimientos que describían los libros".
"Para escribir una novela hay que leer muchos libros".
"Escribir es convertirme en quien quiera a voluntad".
"Cuando una novela se encarrila bien, los personajes terminan por moverse solos y la historia avanza por sí misma".
"Los sueños normalmente no se eligen".
"Si disfruto al escribir estoy seguro de que habrá lectores en alguna parte que disfrutarán conmigo".
"Haga uno lo que haga, siempre habrá alguien que lo criticará".
"Rick Nelson: 'Si no eres capaz de hacer disfrutar a los demás, no te queda más remedio que disfrutar tú'".
"Convertirlos en adictos a lo que uno hace, crear un vínculo imposible de cortar, una relación en la que el lector casi no puede esperar a la siguiente dosis".
"Una persona con defectos solo podrá escribir una novela con defectos".
"La única cosa a la que hay que temer de verdad es morir rodeado de aduladores y alabanzas".
"Las novelas brotan con naturalidad del interior de uno mismo. No se construyen a punta de estrategia".
"Ser original, tener un estilo propio era y es uno de los mayores elogios que se le pueden dedicar a alguien".
"La narrativa como tal existe como metáfora de la realidad circundante".
"Alfred Birnbaum traduce con libertad y Jay Rubin con fidelidad" [sobre sus traductores del japonés al inglés].
"En Occidente se tiene un gran sentido de la persona como individuo".
"Escribo como lo hago porque no sé hacerlo de otra manera".
"Sólo logro poner en orden lo que pienso cuando escribo".

Agradecimientos especiales al Jumo, que me regaló el libro a cambio de que le editara un texto.

[هاميس محمود · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب تم ترجمته من شهور مضت ليس من فترة طويلة، كنت قبلها بفترة، انتهيت من قراءة رواية كافكا على الشاطئ وفي الحقيقة لم أكن أحتاج أن انتهي من الرواية حتى أقرر أنه هاروكي سيكون واحد من كتابي المفضلين ودماغه وأسلوبه في الكتابة هيعجبني جدا.

فالكتاب في وقته معايا تماما، اتعرفت فيه على هاروكي وجوانب من حياته قبل أن أقرر استكمال قراءة كل رواياته المترجمة، أصبح عندي فكرة قريبة ولو أني عرفت عنه وعن شخصيته من خلال روايته كافكا، كأني اتعرفت عليه بين السطور التي يكتبها.

مهنتي هي الرواية أشبه بدليل قوي لكل كاتب حابب يبدأ الدخول في عالم الكتابة أو دخل فيها، شامل اجابات لأسئلة بتخطر على بالهم. أنا بالنسبة لي الكتاب كان أقرب لسيرة اتعرفت عليها على هاروكي، في كل مقال مختلف عرفت الكثير وسعيدة أني بقرأ لكاتب زي هاروكي وشخصيته التي أحببتها كثيرا.

هاروكي كان قال في الكتاب أنه بيكون فرحان ومهم عنده لما القارئ يقرر يبدأ في رواية له ويشتريها، فهذا معناه أنه القارئ مهتم يقرأ له، عارفة أنه لن يرى كلامي ولكن يا هاروكي أنا هكون واحدة من القراء الجمال الذين هيقتنوا أعمالك كلها وهيقرأوها بإذن الله. 🤍

[Yukari Peerless · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was unexpectedly personal stories written by Murakami himself on writing. It was inspiring and encouraging. I have a feeling I will re-read this many times.

[Liesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich bin so dankbar, vor einigen Jahren auf Murakamis Romane gestoßen zu sein - für mich ist er definitiv einer der interessantesten und inspirierendsten Persönlichkeiten und das auf eine so unfassbar sympathische und ruhige Art und Weise. Ich werde wohl niemals genug von seinen Werken bekommen und kann diese Sammlung von Essays an all diejenigen, die seine Romane und Kurzgeschichten schätzen, nur wärmstens weiterempfehlen!

[Robert Khorsand · Rating 4 out of 5]

English Edition (No spoilers)
Murakami is my favorite author and one of the famous author who shares his experiences of becoming a writer in this book.
This book contains eleven chapters in which span his writing career from the beginning to becoming famous:
1.Are Novelists Broad-minded?
2.When I Became a Novelist
3.On Literary Prizes
4.On Originality
5.So What Should I Write About?
6.Making Time Your Ally: On Writing a Novel
7.A Completely Personal and Physical Occupation
8.Regarding Schools
9.What Kind of Characters Should I Include?
10.Who Do I Write For?
11.Going Abroad: A New Frontier
Murakami never attended writing classes nor was he a particularly good student. What he was though was an avid reader with an inner will.
He remains humble as to his own talents and encourages others to pursue their desire to write. He presents no rules other than to spend time writing and reading and paying attention to creative and imaginative ideas.
As a man who loves him and his unique lifestyle, I changed my crappy lifestyle, quit smoking, lost nearly hundred pounds, took up running, became a professional runner, ran two marathons and I'm getting ready to Dubai Marathon in FEB 12, 2023.
Well I love anything he writes, that's all I can say about him.
*************************************
نسخه‌ی فارسی (فاقد مطالب افشا کننده)
هاروکی موراکامی...
خب فکر می‌کنم، بلا استثنا هرکسی که من را می‌شناسد می‌داند که عاشقش هستم، و او محبوب‌ترین نویسنده‌ی من است. محبوبیت موراکامی برای من تنها به قلمش خلاصه نمی‌شود، علاقه‌ی من به او، از سبک زندگی خاصش بر می‌آید. من به کمک او فهمیدم اگر چیزی هستم، قرار نیست تا آخر عمرم همان باشم، چون زنده‌ام، می‌توانم تغییر کنم و هیچ‌وقت برای تغییر نیست...
با علاقه به او از ۱۷ دی ۱۳۹۷ سیگار را به یک‌باره ترک کردم، رژیم غذایی افتضاحم را اصلاح کردم، دونده شدم، نزدیک به ۵۰ کیلوگرم از اضافه وزنم را کاستم، دونده‌ی حرفه‌ای شدم و نهایتا تا به امروز دو بار ماراتن را دویدم و ۱۲ فوریه ۲۰۲۳ برای سومین بار در ماراتن دوبی خواهم دوید. این عمق نفوذ موراکامی و افکارش در من است و نمی‌توانم چیزی را که نوشته نخوانم... هر چه تا به حال نوشته خوانده و باز هم هرچه بنویسد حتی مقاله، ستونی در روزنامه، هرچه باشد خواهم خواند.
خب از دل‌نوشته که بگذرم، باید به این کتاب بپردازم...
این کتاب یک ناداستان از موراکامی‌ست در یازده فصل:
۱-آیا داستان نویس‌ها آدم‌های گشاده‌رویی هستند؟
۲-وقتی که یک داستان‌نویس شدم
۳-درباره‌ی جوایز ادبی
۴-درباره‌ی اصالت
۵-خب چه باید بنویسم؟
۶-زمان را همراه خود کردن، نوشتن یک رمان
۷-داستان نویسی فعالیتی کاملا فیزیکی و شخصی
۸-درباره‌ی مدارس
۹-چه شخصیت‌هایی باید خلق کنم؟
۱۰-برای چه کسی باید بنویسم؟
۱۱-گذشتن از مرزها و کشف قلمرو جدید
در این یازده فصل موراکامی از پیش از زمان نویسنده شدنش تا زمانی‌که نویسنده‌ی مشهوری شد روایت می‌کند. حرف‌هایش خواندنی‌ست و نشستن پای این سخنان برای همه‌ی دوست‌دارانش قطعا شیرین خواهد بود. پس پیشنهاد می‌کنم این کتاب را از دست ندهید.

لینک فایل ای‌پاب کتاب
https://t.me/reviewsbysoheil/528

بلاگ
سوم دی‌ماه یک‌هزار و چهارصد و یک

[James Scholz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

interesting read! informative, not always practical. chill book

[Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Forse d'ora in poi scenderò dentro di me e cercherò più a fondo, più lontano. In un terreno vasto e sconosciuto che probabilmente costituirà l'ultima frontiera. Se riuscirò o meno ad aprirla, quella frontiera, non lo so. Tuttavia, scusate se mi ripeto, stabilire chiaramente il proprio obiettivo è una cosa fantastica. A qualunque età, in qualunque luogo."

“Come ho detto, quando si cerca di entrare in un campo che non è il proprio, qualunque esso sia, non si è visti di buon occhio dalle persone che vi appartengono, e che tendono a impedirne l’accesso, come i globuli bianchi cercano di eliminare dal corpo i microorganismi estranei.”


“Questa è solo la mia opinione personale, ma scrivere un romanzo è un processo lento e poco appariscente. Non vi si può trovare il minimo «glamour». Te ne stai chiuso in una stanza ad arrovellarti su ogni frase − forse è meglio cosí, anzi no, forse è meglio in quest’altro modo −, a porti domande seduto alla scrivania, e dopo aver passato un’intera giornata a perfezionare una riga, non c’è nessuno che sia lí ad applaudire. Nessuno che venga a darti una pacca sulla schiena dicendoti: «Bravo, bel lavoro!» Nessuno che noti il livello letterario di quella riga. Tutto quello che puoi fare è convincerti da solo di essere riuscito nel tuo intento, annuendo in silenzio. Questo significa scrivere. Un lavoro gramo che richiede tempo e fatica.”
“Scrivere un romanzo, anche un romanzo bellissimo, non è tanto difficile. Non si può dire che sia una passeggiata, ma non è impossibile. Per continuare a lungo però, come ho appena detto, è necessario avere qualcosa di particolare. Qualcosa che non ha relazione con il «talento». Ma come si fa a capire se lo si possiede o no? La risposta è una sola: per sapere se una cosa galleggerà o affonderà, bisogna gettarla in acqua. È una metafora, ma pare che la vita funzioni davvero cosí. A parte il fatto che si può vivere felici e contenti − anzi, direi che si vive meglio −, senza scrivere romanzi. Eppure ci sono persone che vogliono, che hanno bisogno di scrivere. E continuano a farlo. A quelle persone naturalmente, in quanto scrittore, do un sincero benvenuto. Prego, sul ring c’è posto.”

“A un certo punto però mi sono reso conto che mi stavo avvicinando ai trent’anni. Per me stava per terminare quel periodo della vita in cui si è «ragazzi». Ricordo che questo mi causava sentimenti complessi. Del genere: «Ah, la vita dunque passa cosí, in un attimo?»”

“Ma chi non possiede quel tanto di arroganza non può diventare romanziere, lo penso davvero.”


“Sopravvivere e possibilmente avanzare, questo è il compito che mi è stato assegnato.”
“In ogni caso, da giovani bisogna leggere quanto piú si può. Autori eccelsi, autori cosí cosí, autori insignificanti… non ha (alcuna) importanza, l’essenziale è leggere in continuazione. Far passare dentro di sé il maggior numero possibile di storie. Frasi scritte in modo meraviglioso, ma a volte anche mediocre. È un lavoro importante. Un compito da svolgere finché si ha tempo a disposizione. Serve a dare al futuro romanziere un vigore di base indispensabile, a fortificare gli occhi. Anche scrivere è importante, sí, ma nell’ordine di precedenza viene dopo, quindi non c’è fretta.”

“Seconda cosa − prima di iniziare a scrivere −, mi pare che sia necessario prendere l’abitudine di osservare in dettaglio le cose e i fenomeni che si hanno davanti. Osservare attentamente, con scrupolo, tutto quello che succede, gli eventi, le persone. E rifletterci su. Rifletterci, non dare giudizi di valore. È preferibile non cercare subito soluzioni, rimandarle a piú tardi. Quello che conta non è trovare una risposta chiara, ma fissare le cose nella mente nel modo piú fedele possibile, e da lí trasformarle in materiale.”

“In ogni caso, qualunque sia il motivo che gliene offre l’occasione, l’autore, quando inizia a scrivere un romanzo, è solo. Nessuno lo, o la, può aiutare. Al massimo, nel caso sia necessario fare qualche ricerca, può affidare a qualcun altro il compito di raccogliere dati e materiale, ma dovrà poi organizzarli nella sua testa personalmente, nessuno lo può fare per lui o per lei, nessuno può trovare le parole giuste. Quello che si è iniziato da soli lo si deve portare avanti e completare da soli. Non si può fare come i giocatori di baseball, che di questi tempi, dopo aver lanciato sette volte, lasciano il posto a un altro e vanno ad asciugarsi il sudore in panchina. Per gli scrittori non ci sono panchine. Una volta iniziata la lunga sfida, devono continuare a lanciare la palla, fosse anche quindici, diciotto volte, fino al termine della partita.”

“Dire che è un lavoro solitario parrà banale, ma è proprio cosí: scrivere un romanzo, soprattutto un romanzo lungo, è qualcosa che si fa in solitudine. A volte ho l’impressione di stare seduto in fondo a un pozzo. Nessuno ti viene ad aiutare, o a complimentarsi con te dicendoti: «Bravo, oggi hai lavorato bene», dandoti una pacca sulla spalla. L’opera finita verrà forse elogiata (se tutto va bene), ma sulla fatica fatta per scriverla nessuno dirà mai una parola di apprezzamento. È un fardello che lo scrittore si deve caricare senza fiatare.”

“Essere un romanziere significa raccontare una storia. E raccontare una storia significa, in altre parole, scendere di propria volontà al fondo della propria coscienza. Nella parte piú buia del proprio spirito. Piú il racconto è importante, piú lo scrittore deve scendere. Cosí come per costruire un palazzo molto grande, è necessario scavare delle fondamenta molto profonde. Piú la storia è intensa, piú le tenebre sotterranee si fanno dense e pesanti. Lo scrittore deve trovare in quelle tenebre ciò di cui ha bisogno − il nutrimento necessario al romanzo − e riportarlo con le sue mani nella sfera piú alta della coscienza. Poi trasformarlo in un testo che abbia una forma e un senso. A volte le tenebre sono piene di cose pericolose. La creatura che vive lí sotto può prendere forme diverse per confonderci le idee. Non ci sono né cartelli indicatori né mappe. È come essere in un labirinto. In una caverna sotterranea. Basta un attimo di distrazione per smarrire la strada, e non riuscire piú a tornare in superficie. Nelle tenebre, l’inconscio collettivo e quello individuale si confondono. Passato e presente si mescolano. Dobbiamo riportare indietro ciò che abbiamo trovato a scatola chiusa, ma in certi casi il risultato è pericoloso. Per resistere alla forza di queste profonde tenebre, per far fronte quotidianamente a tanti pericoli, abbiamo bisogno di energia fisica. Non posso indicare con precisione quanta ne sia necessaria, ma in ogni caso è molto meglio averne che non averne. Quella che è indispensabile a ognuno di noi, a prescindere da ogni criterio generale.”

“Quando si frequenta la scuola, gli ammonimenti fioccano di continuo: «Devi studiare con impegno. Se non si impara da giovani, poi, da adulti, lo si rimpiange». Sarà, ma io, una volta terminati gli studi, questo rimpianto non l’ho provato nemmeno una volta. Al contrario, mi dispiace non essermi divertito di piú, quando ero ragazzo. Invece di sprecare il mio tempo a studiare certe idiozie. Può darsi però che io sia un caso limite.”

“Come per scrivere romanzi è necessario leggerne un gran numero, allo stesso modo, mi sento di poter dire, per descrivere degli esseri umani bisogna averne incontrati tanti.”

“Magari un giorno mi metterò nei panni di una ventenne con tendenze lesbiche. Un marito trentenne che ha perso il lavoro. Infilerò le scarpe che mi verranno date, adatterò i miei piedi alla loro misura e inizierò ad avanzare. Tutto qui. Non devo trovare scarpe adatte ai miei piedi, ma fare il contrario.”

“In ogni caso, ci sono ancora tante cose che devo imparare sui personaggi che creo. E altrettante che loro devono insegnare a me. Ho l’intenzione di continuare, a perdifiato, a riempire le mie storie di personaggi strani, misteriosi, pittoreschi. Quando inizio un nuovo romanzo, mi chiedo sempre, pieno di aspettative: «Questa volta quali persone incontrerò?»”

“I miei lettori… Intendiamoci, non è come quando si avvia un’attività commerciale, che si fanno ricerche di mercato e si analizzano le fasce di consumatori, poi si fissa concretamente un target. Quelli che mi vengono in mente sono lettori fittizi. Gente che non ha né età, né professione, né sesso. Nella realtà ce l’hanno, è ovvio, ma sono fattori interscambiabili. È anche possibile che non siano elementi necessari. L’importante, quello che non deve essere interscambiabile, è il legame tra me e queste persone. Non so dove e in che modo, ma ho la sensazione che in un luogo profondo, buio, le mie radici e le loro siano connesse. Trattandosi di un luogo troppo remoto, non è possibile esplorarlo. Ma attraverso il sistema del racconto, riusciamo a percepire questo legame. Una sensazione vivida di nutrimento che va e viene.”

“Questo mi fa venire in mente che una volta un mio ex compagno di scuola mi ha chiamato e mi ha detto. «Mio figlio che è liceale ha letto tutti i tuoi libri, ne parliamo spesso insieme. Di solito noi non parliamo molto, ma dei tuoi romanzi discutiamo volentieri». Dal tono sembrava davvero contento. Ah, allora i miei libri hanno anche una qualche utilità sociale, ho pensato.”