South of the Border, West of the Sun

South of the Border, West of the Sun
First edition (Japanese)
Author	Haruki Murakami
Original title	国境の南、太陽の西 Kokkyō no Minami, Taiyō no Nishi
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Publisher	Kodansha
Publication date	1992
Published in English	1999
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	192 pages
ISBN	0-09-944857-2
OCLC	51106989

South of the Border, West of the Sun (国境の南、太陽の西, Kokkyō no Minami, Taiyō no Nishi) is a short novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

Background

He wrote it in 1992 while he was a visiting scholar at the Princeton University in the United States.^[1] The English translation by Philip Gabriel was released in 1999.

Part of the title, 'South of the Border,' refers to the song as sung by Nat King Cole.^[2] However, there is no evidence that Nat King Cole actually ever recorded this song. The other half refers to an Inuit syndrome called Piblokto or Arctic (or Siberian) hysteria.

Plot synopsis

The novel tells the story of Hajime, starting from his childhood in a small town in Japan. Here he meets a girl, Shimamoto, who is also an only child and suffers from polio, which causes her to drag her leg as she walks. They spend most of their time together talking about their interests in life and listening to records on Shimamoto's stereo. They join different high schools and grow apart. They are reunited again at the age of 36, Hajime now the father of two children and owner of two successful jazz bars in Aoyama, the trendy part of Tokyo.

With Shimamoto never giving any detail as to her own life and appearing only at random intervals, she haunts him as a constant "What if". Despite his current situation, meeting Shimamoto again sets off a chain of events that eventually forces Hajime to choose between his wife and family or attempting to recapture the magic of the past.

Works by Haruki Murakami

Titles listed in order originally published (dates of Japanese publication, English translation)

Novels	Hear the Wind Sing (1979, tr. 1987) Pinball, 1973 (1980, tr. 1985) A Wild Sheep Chase (1982, tr. 1989) Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985, tr. 1991) Norwegian Wood (1987, tr. 2000) Dance Dance Dance (1988, tr. 1994) South of the Border, West of the Sun (1992, tr. 2000) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–1995, tr. 1997) Sputnik Sweetheart (1999, tr. 2001) Kafka on the Shore (2002, tr. 2005) After Dark (2004, tr. 2007) 1Q84 (2009–2010, tr. 2011) Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (2013, tr. 2014)

Story collections	The Elephant Vanishes (1980–1991, tr. 1993) after the quake (1999–2000, tr. 2002) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (1980–2005, tr. 2006)

Non-fiction	Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche (1997–1998, tr. 2000) What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007, tr. 2008)

Other books	Birthday Stories (2002 anthology, tr. 2004) The Strange Library (2005 illustrated children's novella, tr. 2014)

Adaptations	The Elephant Vanishes (2003 play) Tony Takitani (2004 film) Norwegian Wood (2010 film)

References

↑ Brown, Mick (2003-08-15). "Tales of the unexpected". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2008-12-07.
↑ Bauer, Justin (2000-10-05). "This Bird Has Flown". Philadelphia City Paper. Retrieved 2008-12-07.