在挪威的森林尋找村上春樹

他的難懂之處在于其超現實。

他的美妙之處也在于其超現實。

他的《挪威的森林》與《麥田里的守望者》平行并進，守護著一代又一代的年輕心靈—

他是村上春樹，游走于另類與大眾、幻象與現實之間的村上春樹。

學習小提示:很難得找到這么棒的原聲材料—語音清晰，節奏分明，尤其是旁白和小說選段的抑揚頓挫極富感情，而且背景音樂非常好聽。文章本身也寫得很有味道，除了適合精聽精讀，兩個小說選段更是優秀的誦讀素材哦。另外，本文為典型英式發音，喜歡英音的同學要注意跟讀，喜歡美音的同學則可以從中學習兩種口音的區別。

I’m on the trail of Haruki Murakami – the 1)illusive

Haruki Murakami. He’s Japan’s most successful novelist. He writes 2)off-beat books， where dream， memory and reality

often 3)swap places with one another. His stories are fueled by his great passion， music， especially jazz， and his fame has spread far beyond Japan. He’s been translated into over 40 different languages. Murakami turned Japanese literature on its head， writing novels and short stories， heavily influenced by western literature that were 4)contemporary， humorous and that often slipped into the 5)surreal.

Something tells me that looking for Murakami isn’t

going to be， well， straightforward. For a start， he doesn’t

do TV or radio. But， for the first time ever， he did agree to meet up with the producer and answer some of our questions off camera， and on condition that his own voice wasn’t heard. We asked him， first， if the inspiration to write came easily.

Murakami: Sometimes it comes and sometimes it stops coming – I don’t know why. But， you know， writing fiction…

writing novels is just like searching for something in the dark places. So you need every help， every help you can get. Sometimes it’s cats， sometimes it’s wells， and in the dark places there are small things waiting to help you.

Book of the Youth， Book for the Youth

Kobe High School， where Murakami spent his

6)adolescence – not the greatest student. He says he passed his time playing Majong， fooling around with girls， skipping class， smoking and reading novels.

Murakami: I’m a kind of rebel. It was the 1960s， the age of the rebel. We felt we were free. We could do anything. Back then I just wanted to find a window that faced the outside world， and it happened to be foreign culture. I was interested in reading books in English， mostly

American literature， so I was addicted to those things. I could escape from Japanese society and its culture， so it was just great.

When Murakami left school， he half-heartedly took exams to study law at university and failed to get a place. After a year of hanging out in the library， he passed the exam to study in Tokyo， in the Department of Literature at the 7)prestigious Waseda University. Newly arrived in the capital， his parents arranged for him to stay in a private 8)dormitory close to Waseda， Wakei Juku. Little changed since Murakami was there 40 years ago， Wakei features 9)prominently in Murakami’s most popular novel，

Norwegian Wood.

“Once upon a time， many years ago – just 20 years ago in fact – I was living in a dormitory. I was 18 and a first-year student. I was new to Tokyo， and new to living alone. And so my anxious parents found a private dorm for me to live in rather than the kind of single room that most students took. There were two 3-story concrete dorm buildings facing each other. They were large with lots of windows and gave the impression of being either flats that had been 10)converted into jails or jails that had been converted into flats. For my part， I would have preferred to rent a flat and live in comfortable 11)solitude.

But， knowing what my parents had to spend on

12)enrollment fees and 13)tuition， I was in no position to insist. And besides， I didn’t really care where I lived.”

(from Norwegian Wood)

Adolescents， students， young people at transitional moments in their lives are often the central characters in Murakami’s novels. He seems endlessly fascinated with this period of life and with his own memories of being that age. Norwegian Wood is a story about a 19-year-old boy， Toru， and his relationship with two different girls.

“Naoko called me the following Saturday. And that Sunday we had a date. I suppose I could call it a date. I can’t think of a better word for it. As before， we walked the streets. Memory is a funny thing. When I was in the scene， I hardly paid it any attention. I never stopped to think of it as something that would make a lasting impression – certainly never imagined that 18 years later I would recall it in such detail. I was thinking

about myself. I was thinking about the beautiful girl walking next to me. I was thinking about the two of us together and then about myself again. I was at that age， that time of life when every sight， every feeling， every thought came back like a 14)boomerang to me. And worse， I was in love， love with complications.”

(from Norwegian Wood)

Murakami’s ability to 15)authentically 16)evoke the smell of adolescence in this 17)melancholy 18)rites-of-passage love story has led the book to be dubbed “the Japanese Catcher in the Rye.”

More Than Being Japanese

Murakami: What I want to do is write what I want to write. I like to express the things which arise in my mind deeply. People ask me， for example， what does “the cat” mean? I have no answer. I just wanted to write it. I have no reason to write it， but I knew I should [have] written it. So I’m very confident about it， and my readers can feel my confidence.

Interviewer: He’s never really 19)fitted in， has he? I mean， how much is he a…a Japanese writer?

Jay Rubin (Murakami translator): One thing that I don’t

think is central to Murakami is that search for Japanese identity. I don’t think there’s any likelihood that Murakami would have had the worldwide impact he’s had， if all he were doing was 20)preaching to the world or teaching the world about what it…what it means to be Japanese. That…

that’s there， but it…it’s finally…it’s what it means to be human. And that’s why so many different cultures are able to relate to him. I think he manages to do that. He manages to 21)burrow into these things that are so much part of the brain and part of the…the

individual 22)psyche that he doesn’t encounter cultural

resistance. He’s obviously dealing with the things that so many people do feel as the most important things in their lives. I think that’s one of the things that[’s] made him so moving to so many different people from so many different countries.

Murakami: Sometimes， I don’t know what I’m looking

for. But I know something is there， and I want to find out what it is. But I don’t know what it is until

I’ve found it. So that is the reason why I write stories. Stories are a 23)maze， a 24)labyrinth. So， if I can’t find a way through that maze， if I can’t tell stories， then I can’t find anything at all.

I came to Japan， searching for some answers about Haruki Murakami and his books. Turns out， with Murakami， there’s always going to be more questions than answers. But then， as I’ve discovered， so far as he’s concerned， it’s not the answers， it’s the journey， the hunt， the soul-searching for the answers that really matters.

我在追尋村上春樹的蹤跡—迷離飄忽的村上春樹。他是日本最成功的小說家。他的著作不落俗套，幻夢、回憶與現實在其中交織相替。他的故事里充滿了巨大的熱情，以及音樂尤其是爵士樂的魅力。如今他的名聲遠播海外，其作品被翻譯成四十多種語言。村上徹底顛覆了日本文學的傳統，其小說和短篇故事深受西方文學的影響，極富現代感，文筆幽默，時常落入超現實世界。

我有預感，尋找村上的道路不會那么簡單直接。一來，他從不接受電視或電臺訪問，而這次，他卻首度同意與我們的節目監制見面，在鏡頭外回答我們的問題，前提條件是他本人的聲音不能被播出。我們首先問道，寫作靈感會否涌泉而至。

村上：靈感時有時無—我也不知道為什么。但是，你知道，編故事……寫小說就如同在黑暗中尋尋覓覓。