Tony Takitani (Murakami adaptation) (1 Viewer)

[walrusbear]

yeah i knew wild sheep chase was a precursor
is it the same character or what??

btw, is there any plan to translate any of murakami's earlier works??

 

[Benny_]

I'm pretty sure they've already been translated. There's a copy of Pinball 1973 at my uni library..hidden well away from the rest of the Japanese literature, including his own work. Quite odd.

And yes, same character in Wild Shee's Chase, I still haven't gotten around to the other 2 yet though.

 

[walrusbear]

seriously??

hmm
maybe only recent translations have been published
is the pinball 1973 actually translated or a japanese copy??

 

[Benny_]

Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 were never published in English by English publishers, but interestingly were released by a Japanese publisher by the name of Kodansha. You can get them on amazon
.

I expect the translation should be of fairly good quality as they're translated by Alfred Birmbaum, who's one of the two major translators Murakami's worked with.

On the loose 'series' that the 4 books form. Some guys on wikipedia say that the the first 3 books (sans Dance), form a 'trilogy of the rat', where a rat plays a prominent role in the story. I'm pretty sure the rat was also mentioned in the Hawaii passage of Dance as well.

 

[daiesk]

Norwegian Wood is the first of his books I read, so it's a sentimental favourite. I'm sure you'll love it too

Norwegian Wood was also the first one I read and yeh, I definitely recommend it. There's something really melancholy about it and really beautiful.. the way Murakami writes it... or maybe its the translation? lol

 

[walrusbear]

Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 were never published in English by English publishers, but interestingly were released by a Japanese publisher by the name of Kodansha. You can get them on amazon
.

I expect the translation should be of fairly good quality as they're translated by Alfred Birmbaum, who's one of the two major translators Murakami's worked with.

On the loose 'series' that the 4 books form. Some guys on wikipedia say that the the first 3 books (sans Dance), form a 'trilogy of the rat', where a rat plays a prominent role in the story. I'm pretty sure the rat was also mentioned in the Hawaii passage of Dance as well.

that's so weird... why don't english publishers (i think it's randomhouse???) release these two? murakami sells heaps amongst the 18-24 yr olds i'd have thought.
i'd order those online if i could actually read that amazon site

 

[Benny_]

I wonder why it is that Murakami sells so well amongst people our age? Most of his characters are in their mid to late 30s.

 

[walrusbear]

i'm not sure, but he sure captures something
maybe a lot of people our age see themselves being the characters in 10 years

 

[lessthanthree]

thread resurrection omgz!


does anyone happen to have english subs for this movie (and want to send them to me)?

 

[Benny_]

Yeah I've got them lessthanthree. Gimme your email and I'll send them over when I get home.

 

[Benny_]

Bump

For those interested, here's the short story itself.

http://magna.cs.ucla.edu/~hxwang/newyorker/blog/files/tonytakitani.html

 

[walrusbear]

sweet!!
thanks benny

 

[walrusbear]

erm *bump*

this is as good a place as any, but i've been catching up on some wong kar-wai films in the last week (saw Chungking Express and Days of Being Wild), and Murakami came to mind a few times.
i was reading up on wong kar wai and remembered benny mentioning that he is a murakami fan.
but anyways...
anyone have any thoughts?
some obvious parallels:
- lonely youth in alienating urban setting
- temporal dislocation; plural time
- a sort of 'global' urban space (signified by stuff like western pop music, coca cola etc). i guess murakami has japan's past in the mix; wong has hong kong - which is just city, not a nation (well... both... at the time.). has a colonial past though
- failure of communication (romance - hetero or otherwise)

i was confused by the last shot of 'days of being wild' but reading elsewhere apparently it was the original opening shot of a presumed sequel that didn't happen (immediately anyway - isn't a trilogy completed with ITMFL and 2046??).

erm anyway
murakami and wong kar wai are awesome

 

[Benny_]

Yep, the 3 films are a loose trilogy. I think the connection between Days of Being Wild and 2046 is that woman Leung's character meets in Singapore (in 2046). She was the girl that Zhang's character had left behind in Hong Kong.

And yeah, you definitely get a similar vibe from Murakami and Wong. Wong is possibly a bit more cynical than Murakami, but the parallels are there. The similar roles played by their female characters is the most striking one for me.

 

[Benny_]

Ah.. first post on BOS in ages. If you're reading this walrus, sorry I didn't get back to you before about the movie, I've been tied up with a lot of annoying business lately. How's your timetable looking for the coming semester? If you have Monday or Friday off, and still want the movie, I'll get it to you.

Anyhow, I bought the new Murakami short story collection yesterday. Imo his best work since at least Sputnik Sweetheart, possibly Hard Boiled Wonderland. My one criticism of it would be that it's really quite.. unambitious.. even for a collection of stories. It reads a bit like eating at a cocktail party- plenty of tasty treats in small portions that don't add up to one satisfying meal.

 

[walrusbear]

last week i got 'blind willow, sleeping woman' and 'a wild sheep chase'. i only read a few of the stories but they sure are nice; bite-size murakami.
you weren't a fan of kafka on the shore?

also i'll PM about the movie. i should have mon or fri free

 

[Benny_]

On the whole Kafka isn't one of my favourites. I enjoyed almost every page.. individually, for the lightness of the prose and most of the trippy episodes (the Colonel and Johnny Walker were particularly fun). But I couldn't help but suspect that I was far less moved than I was suppose to be. Maybe I was missing something ?

 

[walrusbear]

no i don't necessarily disagree

i found kafka weaker than earlier efforts (ala Dance dance, and wild sheep chase - so far)

 

[Benny_]

One of the stories- Firefly in Blind Woman is an extract from Norwegian Wood, one of its lovlier passages. Strange that he decided to include it though, I think Norwegian Wood is the one book that most Murakami fans would've already read..

 

[walrusbear]

i still haven't read norwegian wood