Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

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Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Author Haruki Murakami
Translator Philip Gabriel, Jay Rubin
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Genre(s) Short story collection
Publisher Harvill Seeker (UK) / Knopf (US)
Publication date ?
Published in
English
July 2006
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 334 (UK hardback edition)
ISBN ISBN 1-84343-269-2
ISBN 1-4000-4461-8 (US)
Preceded by Kafka on the Shore
Followed by After Dark

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a collection of short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

The stories contained in the book were written between 1981 and 2005 and this collection was first published in English in 2006. Around half the stories were translated by Philip Gabriel with the other half being translated by Jay Rubin. In this collection, the stories alternate between the two translators for the most part.

Murakami considers this to be his first real collection of short stories since The Elephant Vanishes (1991) and considers after the quake (2002) to be more akin to a concept album, as its stories were designed to produce a cumulative effect.[1]

In the introductory notes to the English language edition of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Murakami declares, ‘I find writing novels a challenge, writing stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.’ This elegant analogy serves to give the reader some idea of what awaits.[2]

The stories in the collection are replete with the sort of epiphanies and moments of clarity that Murakami thrives on – if there is a ‘theme’ or unifying thread it is one of momentary revelation.

Contents

[edit] Contents

Many of the stories in the collection have been published previously in literary magazines, although some have been revised for Blind Willow. The stories are listed below in the order in which they appear in the book.

Title Previously published in[3] Year Written[1]
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Harper's 1995
Birthday Girl Harper's and Birthday Stories 2002
New York Mining Disaster 1980 / 1981
Aeroplane:Or, How He Talked to Himself as If Reciting Poetry The New Yorker
The Mirror 1981 / 1982
A Folklore for My Generation: A Prehistory of Late-Stage Capitalism The New Yorker 1989
Hunting Knife The New Yorker 1984
A Perfect Day for Kangaroos 1981 / 1982
Dabchick McSweeney's Quarterly Concern 1981 / 1982
Man-Eating Cats The New Yorker 1991
A 'Poor Aunt' Story The New Yorker 1980 / 1981
Nausea 1979 1984
The Seventh Man Granta 1996
The Year of Spaghetti The New Yorker 1981 / 1982
Tony Takitani The New Yorker 1990
The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes 1981 / 1982
The Ice Man The New Yorker 1991
Crabs Storie #50 2003[4]
Firefly Extract from Norwegian Wood 1983
Chance Traveller Harper's 2005
Hanalei Bay 2005
Where I'm Likely to Find It The New Yorker 2005
The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day 2005
A Shinagawa Monkey The New Yorker 2005

Tony Takitani (トニー滝谷) was adapted into a 2004 Japanese movie directed by Jun Ichikawa.

The final five stories all appeared in the book Tōkyō Kitanshū (Strange Tales From Tokyo), published in Japan in 2005.

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Murakami, Haruki (2006). "Introduction to the English edition", Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. 
  2. ^ Article about Blind willow, Sleeping Woman [1], retrieved June 01, 2007.
  3. ^ Murakami, Haruki (2006). "Publishers notes, English edition", Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. 
  4. ^ "Storie 50", Leconte Editore, April 2003, p. 2. (English, Italian) 
  5. ^ Waseda.jp Archives
  6. ^ Kiriyama Winners for 2007

[edit] External links