First person of singular is a collection of stories by Haruki Murakami. It was published in 2020 by Tusquets editors, a regular of the work in Spanish of the respected Japanese author.
Within his extensive work, Murakami realizes this time a new anthology of stories that is delicately composed. In it they crackle love notes towards life and the people who surround it, their attitudes and the moments we accompany ourselves with, whether social or in our solitude. A work that returns with the beauty and creativity typical of Murakami and about which we will tell you more about it here.
First person of singular
What kind of work is it?
The commitment of the book is clear: the singular narrator that guarantees a first-person experience. However, it cannot be judged that what is read is something invented, testimony of a self, or that it is Murakami himself who is behind the story. That is something that the writer plays with and has to bet on what each one decides to believe. Murakami subtly invites his reader, makes him participate in stories that speak in the first person. And that at the same time They bear witness to an apparently bland daily life that contains stories with which one can feel identified..
The book consists of eight stories:
- Rough stone, cold pillow.
- Cream.
- Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova.
- With the Beatles.
- Poetic anthology of the Yukult Swallows of Tokyo.
- Carnival.
- Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey.
- First person of singular.
style and themes
The simplicity of the moments to which Murakami gives fair value in the varied stories of his stories stands out. All of them have in common the love and admiration for the little things in life, the moments we live and the people we surround ourselves with. There is certainly a nostalgic and hopeful tone.
The topics he talks about border on the bland: like a song, a baseball team, a person who drives us crazy... Love. Life. All peppered with the longing for youth, for the past that always comes back, experience or ingenuity. Murakami writes with the gift of someone who works with talent and shows his work without ostentation. It only takes a bit of cunning to discern what is true from what belongs to the creator's imagination. Or, well… does that matter?
Likewise, Murakami reflects his noted experience for those who already know him and also for new readers who approach him for the first time. First person of singular seems like a stop in the way of its production, revives existence and literature without hiding the passage of time, the decrepitude and the withered. But, at the same time, in his stories he creates an emotion typical of youth and adolescence: new for neophytes and renewed for veterans.
Some notes sound...
Music is part of Murakami's life and work. That is why this theme stands out, and is introduced, and dances again in another book by the author. It is curious how the Japanese and the Argentine (we are talking about Cortázar) coincide in their love for the jazzy tonality of, for example, Charlie Parker. One of the stories connects with the American saxophonist, as Cortázar also did in his story "El perseguidor". Further musical elements refer to The Beatles, vinyl or the fascination of music lovers for the eighth notes and the quarter notes.
The reader will undoubtedly be able to connect with the most genuine and surprising Murakami, in the first person, and with a monkey included.
Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949.. He studied at Waseda University and, in addition to writing fiction and essays, is dedicated to translation and teaching. His hobbies include music and sports, especially athletics, an activity that he himself practiced for a long time.
Before dedicating himself to writing, he held different jobs: he worked at a record store and opened his own jazz bar. While paying the bills, Murakami stole hours a day (and night) to compose his stories. En What do I talk about when I talk about writing many things are discovered about the author, as when he wrote his first stories at his kitchen table, already at dawn and exhausted after closing his bar.
In his character as a writer, the western influence that he has received and poured into his work stands out. Many other Japanese writers do not consider him an oriental creator for this very reason. Murakami always lived with the music and literature of the West, being influenced especially by Kurt Vonnegut.
For their part, there are many admirers of the Japanese writer who hope that one day he will win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Although it has been a name that has been around for years, so far it has not won the coveted award. But Murakami has been internationally recognized and translated into fifty languages.. And it is that he is considered one of the most influential current novelists.
Some of his most renowned works are: Tokyo blues, Chronicle of the bird that winds the world, Kafka on the shore, 1Q84, The years of pilgrimage of the boy without color: What I mean when I talk about running.