1949年にジョージ・オーウェルは、近未来小説としての『1984』を刊行した。
そして2009年、『1Q84』は逆の方向から1984年を描いた近過去小説である。
そこに描かれているのは「こうであったかもしれない」世界なのだ。
私たちが生きている現在が、「そうではなかったかもしれない」世界であるのと、ちょうど同じように。

1949年にジョージ・オーウェルは、近未来小説としての『1984』を刊行した。
そして2009年、『1Q84』は逆の方向から1984年を描いた近過去小説である。
そこに描かれているのは「こうであったかもしれない」世界なのだ。
私たちが生きている現在が、「そうではなかったかもしれない」世界であるのと、ちょうど同じように。

1949年にジョージ・オーウェルは、近未来小説としての『1984』を刊行した。
そして2009年、『1Q84』は逆の方向から1984年を描いた近過去小説である。
そこに描かれているのは「こうであったかもしれない」世界なのだ。
私たちが生きている現在が、「そうではなかったかもしれない」世界であるのと、ちょうど同じように。

Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.
In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.
Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace,
is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.
Three books in one volume: The Thieving Magpie, Bird as Prophet, The Birdcatcher. This translation by Jay Rubin is in collaboration with the author.

村上春樹首部報導文學之作
揭露奧姆真理教毒氣陰謀下的異界證言
我們不管怎樣都要避開「黑鬼」們，一定要在日光下生存下去。地下舒服的黑暗有時候安慰我們的心，溫柔地讓我們療傷。到這裡還好，但絕對不可以再往前去，不可以撬開最深處最深處上了所的那扇門，那裡面有「黑鬼」們深沉黑暗的故事無止境地擴展下去。──村上春樹
一九九五年三月二十日，星期一。一個很舒服的晴朗的初春早晨。風還有些冷，走在路上的行人依然穿著大衣。
那是沒有任何不同的早晨。看不出分界線的，只是人生中的一天而已。
直到五個變過裝的男人，用以磨尖的傘尖，將裝有奇怪液體的塑膠袋刺破為止……。
一九九五年三月二十日，日本東京地下鐵發生了由奧姆真理教主麻原彰晃所主導的「沙林毒氣事件」。之後，村上春樹親自訪問六十二位受害者，寫成《地下鐵事件》一書。
從《世界末日與冷酷異境》中的「黑鬼」群，到地下鐵沙林事件所釋放出的致命毒氣，小說家透過採訪報導直面殘酷現實，逼現存在人心中的恐怖與歪斜扭曲。

著名人たちによる猫にまつわるエッセイやマンガを集めたアンソロジー!
作家と猫をめぐる47話を収録!
猫なんて! ―作家と猫をめぐる47話 [著]角田光代、片岡義男、村上春樹 他
谷崎潤一郎から角田光代まで、47人の作家・著名人による自分と猫との関わりをつづったエッセイ(漫画も含む)を集めた一冊である。
猫を飼ったことによる心境の変化をつづる角田や片岡義男、猫に名前をつけることについて語る村上春樹や堀江敏幸、どんな野良猫が生き残るかを観察した佐々木幹郎、さらには、猫を擬人化して生きる上での哲学を語らせる水木しげるまで、その切り取り方はさまざま。ひたすら自由な振る舞いを見せる猫だからこそ、人間のインスピレーションを刺激し、夏目漱石の『吾輩は猫である』や宮沢賢治の童話など重要な文学作品の源泉になってきたことも私たちに伝わってくる。
ある時は「人間と対等」「尊敬の念を新たにする」とまで言わしめる猫。読者自身の猫との関わり方も、本書から学べるのでは。
評者:若林良
(週刊朝日 掲載)

《挪威的森林》是一部动人心弦的、平缓舒雅的、略带感伤的、百分之百的恋爱小说。小说主人公渡边以第一人称展开他同两个女孩间的爱情纠葛。渡边的第一个恋人直子原是他高中要好同学木月的女友，后来木月自杀了。一年后渡边同直子不期而遇并开始交往。此时的直子已变得娴静腼腆，美丽晶莹的眸子里不时掠过一丝难以捕捉的阴翳。两人只是日复一日地在落叶飘零的东京街头漫无目标地或前或后或并肩行走不止。直子20岁生日的晚上两人发生了性关系，不料第二天直子便不知去向。几个月后直子来信说她住进一家远在深山里的精神疗养院。渡边前去探望时发现直子开始带有成熟女性的丰腴与娇美。晚间两人虽同处一室，但渡边约束了自己，分手前表示永远等待直子。返校不久，由于一次偶然相遇，渡边开始与低年级的绿子交往。绿子同内向的直子截然相反，“简直就像迎着春天的晨光蹦跳到世界上来的一头小鹿”。这期间，渡边内心十分苦闷彷徨。一方面念念不忘直子缠绵的病情与柔情，一方面又难以抗拒绿子大胆的表白和迷人的活力。不久传来直子自杀的噩耗，渡边失魂魄地四处徒步旅行。最后，在直子同房病友玲子的鼓励下，开始摸索此后的人生。

First American Publication

This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time. It is sure to be a literary event.

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.

作家間的頂尖對決
村上春樹V.S 川上未映子
《刺殺騎士團長》的誕生祕密、《身為職業小說家》的創作奧義、自身寫作歷程與生命的回顧、對於作品中女性所扮演的角色疑問、關於死亡與名聲的事。
那些你想知道的與你不可不知道的村上春樹。
就是那一刻。讓我們一同縱身跳入村上春樹先生的井中。
如同希臘智慧女神米涅瓦的貓頭鷹，總在黃昏飛翔。
芥川賞作家川上未映子用同為寫作者與讀者的雙重身分大膽提問，以兼具女性的細膩觀察與資深書迷對文本的熟捻揭開村上春樹前所未有的作品樣貌與創意風景，深度剖析《身為職業小說家》與《刺殺騎士團長》的背後創作祕辛，更大膽提問那些從未曝光的作家思緒脈絡。
為何優秀的打擊樂手，不會敲出最重要的樂音？地下二樓究竟發生了什麼事情？失眠的夜晚，和胖郵差一樣罕有？即便沒有了紙張，人們仍會繼續敘述？
關於人人都想知道，卻又無法詢問的問題。就由芥川賞作家、村上春樹的忠實讀者川上未映子以深刻犀利的提問，引出作家村上春樹意外而真實的面貌。

It was a clear spring day, Monday, March 20, 1995, when five members of the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo conducted chemical warfare on the Tokyo subway system using sarin, a poison gas twenty-six times as deadly as cyanide. The unthinkable had happened, a major urban transit system had become the target of a terrorist attack.

In an attempt to discover why, Haruki Murakami, internationally acclaimed author of
and arguably Japan’s most important contemporary novelist, talked to the people who lived through the catastrophe—from a Subway Authority employee with survivor guilt, to a fashion salesman with more venom for the media than for the perpetrators, to a young cult member who vehemently condemns the attack though he has not quit Aum. Through these and many other voices, Murakami exposes intriguing aspects of the Japanese psyche. And as he discerns the fundamental issues leading to the attack, we achieve a clear vision of an event that could occur anytime, anywhere. Hauntingly compelling and inescapably important,
is a powerful work of journalistic literature from one of the world’s most perceptive writers.

A deeply personal, intimate conversation about music and writing between the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author and his close friend, the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Haruki Murakami's passion for music runs deep. Before turning his hand to writing, he ran a jazz club in Tokyo, and from The Beatles' Norwegian Wood to Franz Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage, the aesthetic and emotional power of music permeates every one of his much-loved books. Now, in Absolutely on Music, Murakami fulfills a personal dream, sitting down with his friend, acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa, to talk, over a period of two years, about their shared interest. Transcribed from lengthy conversations about the nature of music and writing, here they discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from record collecting to pop-up orchestras, and much more. Ultimately this book gives readers an unprecedented glimpse into the minds of the two maestros. It is essential reading for book and music lovers everywhere.

A riveting new collection of short stories from the beloved, internationally acclaimed Haruki Murakami.
The eight masterful stories in this new collection are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator, a lonely man. Some of them (like "With the Beatles," "Cream" and "On a Stone Pillow") are nostalgic looks back at youth. Others are set in adulthood--"Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova," "Carnaval," "Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey" and the title story, "First Person Singular." Occasionally, a narrator who may or may not be Haruki himself is present, as in "The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection." Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides. The stories touch beautifully on love and loss, childhood and death . . . all with a signature Murakami twist.

A mindbending new collection of short stories from the unique, internationally acclaimed author of Norwegian Wood and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
The eight masterly stories in this new collection are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator. From nostalgic memories of youth, meditations on music and an ardent love of baseball to dreamlike scenarios, an encounter with a talking monkey and invented jazz albums, together these stories challenge the boundaries between our minds and the exterior world. Occasionally, a narrator who may or may not be Murakami himself is present. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides.
Philosophical and mysterious, the stories in First Person Singular all touch beautifully on love and solitude, childhood and memory. . . all with a signature Murakami twist.

深沉黑暗中綻放光明的六則啟示錄。
1995年1月，地震在瞬間讓一切都灰飛湮滅。2月，在燃燒漂流木的冬季海岸、帶著小盒子的男人所前往的釧路、青蛙老弟在地底下與大蚯蚓奮戰的東京，全世界皆默默地開始共振……。
大地裂開。神明，也許並不存在。
然而，恐怕早在那場震災之前，我們的內心已懷著一座廢墟了。

An unprecedented glimpse into the minds of two maestros.
Haruki Murakami's passion for music runs deep. Before turning his hand to writing, he ran a jazz club in Tokyo, and the aesthetic and emotional power of music permeates every one of his much-loved books. Now, in Absolutely on Music, Murakami fulfills a personal dream, sitting down with his friend, acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa, to talk about their shared interest.
They discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from record collecting to pop-up orchestras, and much more.

2篇の名作を奇跡のマンガ化――世界で愛される村上春樹の恋愛小説「螢」と、超管理社会の予言書「一九八四年」!
解説・柴田元幸