Haruki Murakami (Kyoto, 74 years old) arrived this Wednesday at the Jovellanos Theater, to the applause of the fans gathered at the door, wearing a pair of running shoes; because Murakami, in addition to being a writer, is a well-known marathon runner. The Japanese menudo walks light and fragile, as if gravity attracts him less than the rest, and seems somewhat overwhelmed. In addition to being a writer and runner, he is a self-confessed shy man who has a certain aversion to public and media appearances. It is not lavish. That is why the opportunity to listen to him in Gijón has been very attractive for the thousand members of 93 reading clubs of public libraries attending the event, most of them women, which has been led by the journalist of EL PAÍS Berna González Harbour. The Japanese author, a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize, is this year's Princess of Asturias Award for Literature.
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Haruki Murakami: "A novelist's job is daydreaming"
"The food here is great", was one of the first things he said in response to the journalist's question about his stay in Asturias. He then delved into certain facets of his work. "The writer's job is to go down to the depths of consciousness," he explained. "If consciousness is a house, with its different floors, the writer has to go down, not to the basement, but to the second basement." This deepening of the human essence explains, in the author's opinion, why his work is well received by young and old, men and women, and people of different cultures. Deep down, deep down, in that second basement, we're all very much alike.
Murakami has a deep voice and, despite his shyness, a certain comic vis that has been infinitely enhanced by the chatty simultaneous translator in the headphones. In such a way that there has been a constant hilarity in the audience, not always because of what the Japanese has said, but because of the self-confidence of the translation, in an event, moreover, full of technical setbacks. It is worth wondering if the author understood the reason for so much laughter when many times the message was not so funny, but he has seemed comfortable in the role. Of course, as he has declared, "a sense of humour is more important in my work than loneliness or grief". Many would never have expected that an encounter with Murakami (and his translator) would be so much fun.
Author of more than twenty novels, several dozen short stories and more than half a dozen essays, Murakami has been criticized for introducing too many elements of Western culture into his work to the detriment of Japanese tradition, and not only pop culture, such as certain songs (he is passionate about jazz; before writing he ran a jazz club). but also the concern for individual conscience, in which the individualistic West contrasts with the communitarian East. His first Western reading, Red and Black, by Stendhal. And he's read Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov four times, "I don't think there's a lot of people who can say that," he said. And he doesn't like thick books.
"My father was a professor of Japanese literature, and my mother, until she got married, too," Murakami explained, "that's why I stayed away from Japanese literature. But I'm Japanese, I live in Japan, I write in Japanese and I eat Japanese food. Now that my style has settled, I don't get criticized for this anymore." A style of which the author has highlighted the "beauty of the rhythm and melody", in response to the doubts of the book clubs, who read his questions solemnly and amidst frequent applause, which was interspersed with recurring laughter.
When he was 29 years old, Murakami wrote his first novel. "It was something that fell from the sky, going to see a baseball game in the spring, I never imagined that I could write something like that. And that's how it's always been and that's how I continue to go, hoping that things will continue to fall from the sky," he said, opening his arms towards the zenith, on account of his inspiration to write. Then there are the races. "When I go for a run I try not to think about anything, to empty my head, it's not easy. But writing, especially when it's a long novel, is physically demanding. They never believe me when I say it," he added.
Murakami combines a simple narrative, laconic dialogues, with environments where magical realism is intertwined with science fiction and themes such as loneliness, isolation, the search for identity or love. The particular literary cocktail, from the novel Tokyo blues. Norwegian wood (Tusquets), written in 1987 but published in Spain in 2005, captivated readers all over the world. "I like authors like García Márquez, but I don't like isms. So more than magical realism I think I do Murakaism. I have no teachers, no disciples. It's just me. It's my business," he concluded. Amid the inexhaustible laughter of the audience.
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