"Song of Listening to the Wind" by Haruki Murakami/Translated by Mingzhu Lai In 1978, at the age of 29, Haruki Murakami wrote "The Song of Listening to the Wind". In 1979, this debut novel won the group portrait newcomer award. Since then, he has stepped into the literary world, and with his unique style, he quickly attracted attention and set off a boom , and even called the standard-bearer of Japanese literature in the 1980s. In 1987, Haruki Murakami set an unprecedented bestseller record of 3.4 million copies with "Norwegian Forest", and his works were translated and introduced one after another, becoming a world-famous contemporary writer.

Haruki Murakami's works were introduced to Taiwan for the first time in 1985 in the special issue of "New Book Monthly", and the booklet was first published in 1986 by the Times Publishing "The Lost Pinball Toy" (Note: The new edition restores the original book titles "Pinball Toys in 1973") and "Meet a 100% Girl", and continued to publish "Listening to the Wind Song" in 1988. Why did the first book become the third book Taiwan readers came into contact with? In fact, although Haruki Murakami had attracted quite a lot of attention in the literary world in Japan at that time, he was still a new writer after all, and his style was very different from that of traditional famous writers. Would domestic readers be able to accept such a trendy and special way of expression?In particular, "Listening to the Wind's Song" has no obvious plot changes and is likely to be ignored.Therefore, "The Lost Pinball Toy" with a strong storyline and the short story "Meet the 100% Girl" with more changes will take the lead.The initial response proved to be rather slow.However, it is gratifying that finally a reader wrote to ask why he has not seen his new book published after waiting for a long time?

In an exclusive interview with "Literary World" magazine, Haruki Murakami reviewed his writing process in the first ten years. The following is his explanation of the creation of "Song of Listening to the Wind" at that time. ◇ Although "Listening to the Wind's Song" was published in 1979, it was written in April of the previous year in July and August.I think I've mentioned it in a lot of places, but I thought of writing it when I went to Jingu Stadium to watch the opening game of the Central League, Yakult vs. Hiroshima.Because my house is right next to Jingu Stadium, when I went there, I would drink beer and watch baseball games while lying down during the day. There were no seats in the outfield of Jingu Stadium in the past.At that time, the Yakult and Hiroshima games of the opening games were still very empty.Don't the cheerleaders now have horns, gongs, etc.?At that time, only Abo brought a big drum to beat and play the flute.So leisurely.

It was a very comfortable day. While lying down drinking beer, I don’t know why I suddenly felt an emotion of wanting to write.So I went to buy pens and manuscript paper and went back to write.That was when I was twenty-nine.Before that, I was busy with work and didn't write at all.And it never occurred to me to write.Although because I like to read, I read a lot.Because opening a store (a bar and cafe with jazz music) is too busy to think about it.Because just to repay the loan is very hard.The store started from almost penniless, and the loan and interest repayment are already enough.Isn't it very late at night?So there is no such spare capacity.

However, the business in the store did not know how to become sluggish that year. It is inevitable to encounter such a period when opening a store, and you can’t quit the part-time worker just because the business is sluggish. There is only a lot of time, but there is a lot more time. ten years old I thought I had to do something.When I think about it carefully, every time I face a ten-year boundary, I feel anxious and want to do something.When I wrote "Norwegian Wood", I also wanted to do something before I was forty, so I started writing. "Listening to the Song of the Wind" was written from April to summer.At that time, I didn't know much about the situation, so I went to the nearby Meijiya bookstore to stand and read literary magazines, hoping to apply for the newcomer award. "Group Portrait" was limited to no more than 200 manuscript pages at that time. "Literary World" is limited to one hundred pages.It is a bit difficult for me to write a hundred pages, but I can probably write two hundred pages.

At that time, I didn't think about writing short stories at all, I wanted to write long stories.Then only "Group Portrait" is optional.Later, there was a group portrait feature award, but it didn't exist at that time.Anyway, so let's start with two hundred pages. At the beginning, it was written in a general realistic style, but I didn't take it seriously anyway.Isn’t the so-called novel written in this style?Just write it like this.The plot is exactly the same as "Listening to the Wind's Song", but when the same plot is written in a realistic style, it is not interesting at all.Although I still feel that the writing is good, but it is not interesting at all.I wanted to break free and start writing, so I started again, and it became that style of writing.So that kind of style is not set up from the beginning, but there is really no other way, take it all off, and take off all the clothes, I thought I should just write in the way I like, it feels like the burden on the shoulders has fallen off , becomes writeable.I think it is probably because it has been written once that it can go so smoothly.If I had planned to write it like that from the beginning, I think it would definitely not go so smoothly.

The feeling when the burden on the shoulders falls off is quite pleasant, but it is indeed influenced by VONNEGUT and BRAUTIGAN to a certain extent. I think how to bring that feeling into Japanese? Therefore, this book is the first time I have written two hundred pages completely and discarded them all, but I still often do this now, sometimes I finish writing and throw them all away.But I will know.It doesn't matter if you fail to write, it's just that it's useless to write something that is not interesting.I think so often.So if something is not interesting, no matter how well written it is, I will discard it all.One day I may be able to write something with that structure, but it is still very difficult to use it now.

So I rewrote it from scratch, how did I do it?Just remember to write with the same plot, no matter if it is a metaphor or something, in short, do not explore the so-called mainstream realistic techniques of the novel, remove all this aspect, and write as you like, in other words, I think half Write and write jokingly.In this way, I found that the muscles on my body can move smoothly, ah!That's it.I think.Borrowed things don't work after all. Didn’t I write while running the store?What time is that?After closing, on the kitchen table, drinking a can of beer and writing.I can write for an hour at most, but it's a lot of fun.Because I write for about an hour each time, each chapter is very short. If it is a long article with a chapter length, I will not remember it, and I will not be able to catch up with the mood of the previous day.So cut it short, cut it short and write down.

I am really happy to receive the Newcomer Award.The judges at that time were Mr. Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Mr. Saiichi Marutani, Mr. Toshio Shimao, Mr. Kiichi Sasaki, and Mr. Inago Sata.They are not the kind of people who will ask some difficult questions, and they are more easy-going in personality.When we met at the awards ceremony, everyone was very cordial and it felt very good.Maybe I'm lucky in that respect.There are also quite a lot of negative comments in the group portraits, but the editor-in-chief has always supported me to the end, which probably has a lot to do with it. But everyone around me was taken aback.I think they must think it's just a very ordinary novel.Because I won the newcomer award, I took it to read it, and it turned out to be like that, I must have been a little taken aback.Although some people said it was very interesting, but some people also advised me that enough should be enough, right?

However, because it was the first time I wrote on the manuscript paper, I knew that I put some heavy things in it. Although I used a relatively light article, I think there should be some things, so despite being said that , but I don't care.Although many people have different opinions, for example, it is a bit too light, there is no content, it is just a fluke, so stop writing, but I think it is not the case.Am I still running a shop?Many people, including editors, also came.So it's quite tiring, because no matter what, the other party is always a customer.Here, people are working on counters, and what they hear in front of them, no matter whether it is praise or criticism, cannot escape.

Because there is still a lot of joy in getting the rookie award, so I also want to take care of him in my heart.But the pressure is still great.Fortunately, he won an award. If I lose the election, maybe I will never write again.Although, it's hard to tell.I think that without writing that first, it's kind of hard to keep writing.In short, after the article was written, it continued to develop, and wrote the next article.This way it was established.So if that one doesn't work, I don't know what will happen.Because that is to take advantage of the momentum to write down. I think there is a bang, bang, bang after all. The novel "Listening to the Wind's Song" has the momentum of the first bang.So if it suddenly sank with a thud, the next bang would not be able to step out anyway.It's a matter of rhythm. To be honest, I didn't think I'd make it through.I don't think it's that easy.I just want to write something, since it's useless to keep it after writing, so let's send it for a try.So there is not even a copy left. However, when I heard that I entered the final jury, I also thought that maybe I would win an award.That is a novel belonging to All or nothing.Will it win an award?I think that since I can enter the final jury, I will probably win an award.If you can get there, it means that you have a certain momentum, so you should be picked up. It was the first time I bought a literary magazine to read.Because I have never read it before, I thought that all of them would publish some very good novels, but I found that many very bad ones were also published.If this is the case, I really feel that I may pass the test. I have been reading foreign novels in the past, and the level is completely different. Although there are many literary magazines, it is impossible to publish all first-class works neatly, but some people feel that it is too easy to print them in movable type. After "Listening to the Wind's Song" won the award, I wanted to write another book as soon as possible.Start writing as soon as possible.That's like a proposition, right?If there is only one book, no one will read it. If people can see the direction of the next one, I think people will recognize it and understand it.Write the next one as soon as possible, which is "The Pinball Toy in 1973". ◇ In the old edition of "Song of Listening to the Wind", we added a short story "Slow Boat to China" due to concerns about the small number of pages. The same appearance, with special explanation here.