French and Finnish Covers

The French and Finnish covers of Tsukuru Tazaki translations were released on Curtis Brown website.  The Finnish translation is already available for preorder, but the French Amazon site only offers the English and German language editions so far.
Here is what the two covers will look like:

According to the entry on the page of the Finnish publisher, Tammi the Finnish version of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki is the first translation of a Haruki Murakami's work from the original Japanese. The translator is Raisa Porrasmaa, a scholar, writer and translator living in Japan. As is clear from the cover, the Finnish title does not use the name "Tsukuru Tazaki," but it simply calls refers to a "colorless man." Another page on the publisher's site refers to the fact that a considerable part of the book takes part in Finland, Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, which will no doubt generate additional interest in Finland. 

Both language versions are to appear in September. 

Interview with Dmitry Kovalenin, Russian translator of Murakami

Here is an interview with Dmitry Kovalenin, the Russian translator of Haruki Murakami's works. It was posted on April 18. Kovalenin talks about the new book, about his meetings with the writer and his views on Murakami's works. 

Переводчик Харуки Мураками Дмитрий Коваленин: Мураками - человек, победивший страх

Востоковед Дмитрий Коваленин рассказал "ВМ" японском писателе Харуки Мураками.

ВИКТОРИЯ ФИЛАТОВА

Новая книга японца Харуки Мураками «Мужчины без женщин» поступила в продажу в Японии. Продажи начались в полночь, в одном из крупнейших в Токио книжных магазинов «Кинокуния». В это время у его дверей можно было наблюдать традиционную картину: очередь из поклонников писателя, надеющихся быть в числе тех, кто купит его новую книгу первым.

О том, в чем причина такой популярности писателя, мы поговорили с его бессменным переводчиком, востоковедом Дмитрием Ковалениным.

- Дмитрий, вы знаете о том, что в Японии выпустили новую книгу Харуки Мураками – сборник новелл «Мужчины без женщин»?

- Да, и там уже давка невозможная в магазинах. Я помню, как еще в прошлом году, перед началом продаж его предыдущей книги, люди занимали очередь еще ночью. Так что это, похоже, становится традицией. В новой книге шесть новелл и каждая о мужчине, которой расстался с женщиной, но потом осознал, что он ее, оказывается, любил. Эта тема у него всегда очень бережно обыгрывается, поэтому можно ожидать каких-то интересных этюдов. А поскольку они объединены в одну книгу, то лично мне будет интересно посмотреть его комбинаторику. Мураками умеет прекрасно комбинировать вещи, выстраивая логику, как в музыкальном альбоме.

Подробнее:http://vm.ru/news/2014/04/18/perevodchik-haruki-murakami-dmitrij-kovalenin-murakami-chelovek-pobedivshij-strah-245005.html

To read the whole interview go to: http://vm.ru/news/2014/04/18/perevodchik-haruki-murakami-dmitrij-kovalenin-murakami-chelovek-pobedivshij-strah-245005.html

Подробнее:http://vm.ru/news/2014/04/18/perevodchik-haruki-murakami-dmitrij-kovalenin-murakami-chelovek-pobedivshij-strah-245005.html
Подробнее:http://vm.ru/news/2014/04/18/perevodchik-haruki-murakami-dmitrij-kovalenin-murakami-chelovek-pobedivshij-strah-245005.html

The New Short Story Collection Released at Midnight

The new short story collection by Haruki Murakami titled "Onna no inai otokotachi" was released at midnight in some Tokyo bookstores. The title was perhaps inspired by Hemingway's 1927 short story collection Men Without Women. The image of the cover appeared on the Japanese Amazon site just a few minutes after midnight. The collection includes 6 stories, 5 of them published previously in literary magazines and the title story (for details and titles see the post of March 15). According to some internet sources the first print run will be 300 thousand copies.

Pictures of the first happy buyers can already be found on the internet:

http://www.hochi.co.jp/topics/20140417-OHT1T50201.html

The article reports that the release was preceded by an event called "Biburiobatoru" (Biblio Battle?) where people "talked about Haruki Murakami's work." However, given that the event had a winner and was called a "battle", it must have been some kind of a contest rather than a discussion. The winner was a 32-year-old company employee, Mr. Hayakawa who was given the right to buy the first copy of the new book. Having looked at it briefly he said: "The writing style has charm. Last year was a full-full length novel [referring to Tsukuru Tazaki] so I wasn't able to read it overnight, but tonight I want to read the new story before going to bed." 

Apparently there was a countdown before midnight and at 12am a group of fans set off fire crackers in front of the Shinjuku Kinokuniya. 

Here is a link to an article in Asahi Shinbun covering the event.

Philip Gabriel Speaks To Times of India on Translating Murakami and Tsukuru Tazaki

The Times of India recently published an interview with Philip Gabriel, who is translating Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki into English. The interviewer was Ipshita Mitra and the interview was originally published on March 6, 2014.

Here is an excerpt:

Philip Gabriel on translating Haruki Murakami
IPSHITA MITRA,TNN | Apr 8, 2014, 12.00 AM IST

Murakami, a writer 'found in translation'
Haruki Murakami is a translator himself and has translated American writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, J. D. Salinger, Raymond Carver and John Irving into Japanese. "Murakami understands and appreciates the challenges of working between English and Japanese. He is always generous with his time. When I have questions, I run these by Murakami via email and he responds quickly to any parts I have trouble with. Murakami and/or his staff read through the first draft of my translations and make suggestions and changes," says Philip. 

Murakami's works have been translated into more than 40 languages and have featured on the bestselling lists across the world, from South Korea to Australia, Italy, Germany and China. 

Would it be correct to assume Murakami as a writer 'found in translation'? 

"If it means he is best approached or understood in translation, I would have to disagree. If it means he has more readers who read him in translation than in the original Japanese, I am not sure if this is accurate, but wouldn't be surprised if it is, since he has been translated into so many foreign languages," argues Philip.

Longer excerpts can be found on the Times of India website, and the whole interview can be found on Ipshita Mitra's Wordpress site.

Haruki Murakami an "International Bestseller"?

A grand announcement for the English translation of Tsukuru Tazaki appeared on the Random House page (see the announcement here). It calls Haruki Murakami an "international bestseller," which seems a little unusual to me (shouldn't it be "international bestselling author"?). The whole blurb appears to have been written in a hurry. The price is given as $25 (compared to $18.63 on Amazon).

On another note, Publishing Trends announced international bestseller lists for March 2014 from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Brazil. It looks like Tsukuru Tazaki made it to the top ten in Austria.

French Translation of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki to Appear in September

The French translation of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki is to appear on September 4th from Belfond. It was announced a month ago (see the article here), but somehow I missed it. The French title will be  L'incolore Tsukuru Tazaki et ses années de pèlerinage. It seems that the cover design has not been released yet. 

Here is another article on the topic:
http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/le-nouveau-roman-de-murakami-arrivera-le-4-septembre-en-france-149851

Honorary Degree For Haruki Murakami

Tufts Now, the Tufts University gazette, has just announced that Haruki Murakami will be awarded an honorary degreee.

Haruki Murakami, novelist.  Acclaimed not only in his native Japan but also internationally for fiction that is humorous and surreal, Murakami has earned numerous literary prizes and been praised as being "among the world's greatest living novelists" by The Guardian. Murakami will receive an honorary doctorate of letters.  - See more at: http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/anne-marie-slaughter-deliver-tufts-commencement-address-may-18#sthash.uAB9YZZY.dpuf

To see the whole article go to: 

http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/anne-marie-slaughter-deliver-tufts-commencement-address-may-18

An Interview with Norihiro Kato about Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki

Norihiro Kato, professor of literature at Waseda University and a well-known critic who has written a great deal about Haruki Murakami (including the famous two-volume study, Murakami Haruki Yellow Pages), was interviewed by Hiroshi Matsubara from AJW (Asahi Shinbun Asia & Japan Watch) about Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. 
Kato talks about the issues of commitment and detachment, which are often discussed in the context of Murakami as a writer. He also describes how his impressions of the book evolved as he read it three times!  He calls the novel "an imperfect novel that needed to be written as such to allow the author to reach a new paradigm."

INTERVIEW/ Norihiro Kato: 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki' is an imperfect work but one of Haruki Murakami's most important

photo by H. Matsubara

Editor's note: This interview is part of The Asahi Shimbun AJW's series on internationally acclaimed writer Haruki Murakami.

* * *

When he first conducted his cover-to-cover structural analysis of Haruki Murakami’s latest full-length novel, “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage,” Norihiro Kato realized he would not rank this work with the author's best.

But as he read the novel a second, and then a third time, the Waseda University professor recognized its importance as a possible turning point in the acclaimed writer's literary career.

To read the whole interview go to: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/special/HARUKI_MURAKAMI/AJ201403160010

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
It was announced today that Haruki Murakami will publish a new short story collection almost exactly a year after Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki hit the bookstores. The collection, titled Onna no inai otokotachi ("Men Without Women"? "Womenless Men"?  The site ajw.asahi.com gives the title as the somewhat awkward "Men Who Do Not Have Girlfriends"), consists of five or six (depending on the source) stories, all but one of which have previously been published.

Here is the list of six stories, based on information provided in the sankei.jp article:

収録するのは、書き下ろしの表題作と、総合誌「文芸春秋」に掲載した「ドライブ・マイ・カー」「イエスタデイ」「独立器官」「木野」、文芸雑誌「ＭＯＮＫＥＹ」（スイッチ・パブリッシング）に発表した「シェエラザード」の計６編。

(For readers who don't read Japanese, the stories are: 1) the previously unpublished title story, 2) "Drive My Car," 3)"Yesterday," 4) "Independent Organ" [?], 5) "Kino," all of which have appeared in Bungei Shunju and 6) "Scheherezade," which appeared in Monkey.

Here is a link to the ajw.asahi.com article article in English (which mentions only five stories). 

The book can already be ordered on amazon.co.jp and is already listed as a "Number 1 bestseller"!

女のいない男たち 村上 春樹 (2014/4/18)

• ￥ 1,700 単行本 
• 近日発売　予約可。 この商品は2014/4/18に発売予定です。
• 通常配送無料
• ベストセラー1位  - カテゴリ 文学・評論
• 本: 全商品を見る

Ursula Gräfe Interviewed and the German Translation of Tsukuru Tazaki Nominated for a Prize

I have come across an interview with Ursula Gräfe, the German translator of Tsukuru Tazaki. It seems that the book has been nominated for the Lepizig Book Fair Prize. Congratulations to Ursula! The winner is to be announced tomorrow. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

In the interview Ursula talks about how she became a translator and a little about her approach to translating from Japanese.

Here is a fragment: (readers who don't speak German can use our handy Translate app on the right)

Ursula Gräfe wurde 1956 geboren und hat Japanologie, Anglistik und Amerikanistik studiert. Seit 1988 arbeitet sie als literarische Übersetzerin und wurde vor allen Dingen durch ihre Übersetzungen der Romane von Haruki Murakami bekannt. Zuletzt übersetzte sie seinen neuesten Roman “Die Pilgerjahre des farblosen Herrn Tazaki” – mit ihrer Übersetzung wurde sie für den Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse nominiert, der am 13.03. vergeben wird.

Sie sind bekannt geworden als Übersetzerin von Haruki Murakami – was verbindet Sie mit Japan und warum haben Sie sich entschieden Japanologie zu studieren? 

Meine Entscheidung, Japanologie zu studieren, entsprang eher der Neugier als einem besonderen Interesse oder einem festen Plan. Damals hatte ich nicht die geringste Ahnung von Japan, ganz zu schweigen von japanischer Literatur. Vor allem wollte ich gern eine asiatische Philologie studieren, um mein Bild von der Weltliteratur zu erweitern. Später, als ich Japaner kennen lernte und begann, japanische Literatur zu lesen, eröffnete sich mir eine unbekannte neue Welt, und ich fing richtig Feuer. Die ersten Werke, die wir im Original lasen, sind mir unvergesslich. Es waren Shunkinsho – Die Biografie einer Frühlingsharfe von Jun’ichiro Tanzaki – da könnte man auch mal an eine Neuübersetzung denken – und Kappa von Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Beides war unbeschreiblich schwer. Wir haben so unendlich lange für jeden Satz gebraucht, dass das Seminar über die ganzen Sommerferien ausgedehnt werden musste.

To read the whole interview go to: http://buzzaldrins.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/ursula-grafe-im-gesprach/

Also, at this addresses you can find reviews of the book:
http://www.zeit.de/video/2014-01/3116020455001/haruki-murakami-lesetipp-von-iris-radisch-die-pilgerjahre-des-farblosen-herrn-tazaki
http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/haruki-murakami-die-pilgerjahre-des-farblosen-herrn-tazaki-a-942398.html

Lithuanian Cover of Tsukuru Tazaki Released

Curtis Brown Agency representing Haruki Murakami in Europe has posted the Lithuanian cover of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. It is interesting to notice Tsukuru's Lithuanian name: Cukuru Tadzakis!

http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/haruki-murakami//gallery/

"First Stage" of the UK Cover of "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki" Revealed

Harvill Secker/ Vintage books revealed yesterday the "first stage" of the cover design for the British edition of the novel. This cover, like the US one, seems to be inspired by the four colors symbolizing Tsukuru's friends, but seems a little more imaginative. One wonders what the "final stage" will be like. 

The designer, Susanne Dean said: "Stage one of the cover reveals an elegant abstract design, representing the five main characters and close childhood friends Mr. Red, Mr Blue, Miss White, Miss Black and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. Tsukuru means to make or build, and this is an integral part of the second stage of our cover to be revealed at a later date.’ The book is to come out on August 12. 

http://www.vintage-books.co.uk/murakami/

The American Cover of Tsukuru Tazaki

The cover of the American edition of Tsukuru Tazaki was released by Random Hourse and appeared on amazon.com.  It seems that the designer (his or her name is not listed) has taken the color theme rather literally. The four color strips seem to represent Tsukuru's four friends: Aka, Shiro, Kuro and Ao.  There is also a rectangular element, which seems to have been cut out from a map of Tokyo area train network -- no doubt a bow towards Tsukuru's interest in trains and train stations.

"Tsukuru Tazaki" Is One of the Top Three "Notable Foreign Works" in China Last Year

An article in China Daily announced that Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki was one of the top three "notable foreign works" published in China in 2013. The other two were Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel and Lean In by Cheryl Sandberg, a book dealing with gender equality. 
The article also states that Haruki Murakami is the second highest-grossing foreign author in China, following J.K. Rowling and preceding Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. By calculating the numbers given in the article, one realizes that 7% of books published in China are translations (compared to 3% in the US, 2.5% in the UK, 12% in Germany, 15% in France, 24% in Spain and 46%[!] in Poland, according to publishingperspectives.com).

              

      

To read the article go to:
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-01/07/content_17220854.htm

More on the Dutch Translation Release

James Westerhoven, the Dutch translator of Tsukuru Tazaki kindly sent me this information about the Dutch release:

"The publicity manager of Atlas Contact officially confirmed that the first Dutch printing of Tsukuru Tazaki was 20,000 copies and the second 10,000 (one week before the book appeared). Apparently they are already preparing a third printing, although he didn’t mention the number of copies. That doesn’t necessarily mean the first two print runs have sold out already, but that they want to keep the book available in case the book stores order more.

And here is a link to a Dutch newspaper. It shows 47 photographs taken at the Amsterdam Comedy Theatre, one of the sites of the Murakami Festival. Over the photo, to the right, you see two active links “vorige” (previous) and “volgende” (following/next). The whole series gives a good idea of what the evening was like. The Festival was held at 15 different sites, but later in the evening everyone (some 500 guests) got together at the Theatre until 4 AM.

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/2848/FOTO/photoalbum/detail/3576462/489819/0/De-Fotomeisjes-Het-Murakami-Festival.dhtml

Here are two pictures from the series. The rest can be seen on the page linked above.

An Audio Clip of Tsukuru Tazaki in German on YouTube

DuMont, the German publisher of Tsukuru Tazaki has posted 

an audio clip from the German version of Colorless Tsukuru 
Tazaki read by an actor, Vanja Mues. Here you can listen to
a short interview with Vanya Mues about the recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJJMdwY7as

Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit writes about Murakami Translations

An interesting article about translations of Murakami by Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit, an eminent German scholar of Japanese literature, appeared today. The article coincides with the release of the German translation of Tsukuru Tazaki by Ursula Gräfe. Hijiya-Kirschnereit has written before about the hegemony of English translations and problems of indirect translation. In this article she comments on Tsukuru Tazaki being the second Murakami work (after 1Q84), which appears in many languages before the English translation. She wonders: "How will adaptations for local readerships in all the different translations of his books be approached when the English versions no longer serve as the master copies? Or has Murakami perhaps adapted his style of writing for a global market in a way that makes these adaptations no longer necessary?"

 

Piles of the German Tsukuru Tazaki (photo from http://www.haruki-murakami.com)

Here is a passage from the article:

Orchestrating Translations: The Case of Murakami Haruki

Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit

[2014.01.10]
On January 12, 2014, Japan’s “global author,” as he has been termed, celebrates his sixty-fifth birthday. Two days earlier was chosen for the publication of Murakami Haruki’s most recent novel in German: Die Pilgerjahre des farblosen Herrn Tazaki, which has been eagerly awaited by readers and the press since October 2013, when the publication date was announced. The rest of the story is predictable: Bookstores will position their piles of copies most prominently and visibly near the entrances on the second weekend of the year, and prompt newspaper reviews and radio programs will add to the excitement of seeing another of Murakami’s works ready to be devoured within a brief time span, in spite of its length in German of 318 pages. Needless to say, an e-book version will be available simultaneously.More and more, bringing out Murakami in translation is growing into an event. These releases may not be as high-profile as, say, those for J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories, with people queuing for hours in front of large bookstores. But the fact that Murakami’s recent novels have been accompanied by well-orchestrated campaigns speaks for the particular name value of this author. Or should we describe things the other way around? Was it the smartness of launching a German fan website for 1Q84, his novel in three parts, well before the first two parts appeared in German translation in the fall of 2010, which boosted Murakami fever among his readership in a younger, more outgoing generation?








To read the whole article go to:http://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00144/