Murakami disembarked at the door of the Jovellanos Theatre, at the intersection of Casimiro Velasco Street and Begoña Walk. The mayor of Gijón was already there. Carmen Morion. And journalists. And the protocol team of the Princess of Asturias Foundation. And a handful of readers burst into applause when they saw the creator of “Tokio Blues” walk the ten meters that separated his car from the Gijón odeon.
This seemed to be the beginning of his triumph before his readers; most of them had outperformed their readers by overwhelming margins. From 92 reading clubs from four autonomous communities (Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria and Castilla y León). They went out enthusiastically: “How nice!” shouted the theater lobby an hour after the start of the literary festival, where Murakami was an incomparable star. his voice was heard. It’s so unique He defended his style by saying that it was “not magical realism” but “inspectorism”.. He told this to journalist Berna González Harbour, who first interviewed the Japanese novelist and then navigated a sea of questions from readers (and one reader) who asked him with tense hands and full focus on his face. “A lot of people were left out,” Harbor said in parting words before difficulties with returning simultaneous translation devices. Because Murakami spoke Japanese the entire time. And there were very few people who knew how to listen to him naturally.
Thanks to readers who questioned the creator of “1Q84,” the public knew that he didn’t really care if he was blamed for a lack of “Japaneseness” in Japan. “My parents were Japanese Literature teachers, so I ran away from that.” And loud laughter arose from the Jovellanos’ stalls and stands, filled as never before.
It was also learned that the “first Western novel” read was Stendhal’s “The Red and the Black”, which tells the story of Julien Sorel, the sawyer’s son who disdains intellectual duties. “I was 12 years old,” he said. Since the “book” was all over the house, he read it. He could read it at age twelve, and now, at age 74, he admitted to reading “The Brothers Karamazov” “four times.” “There are very few of us who have read ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ four times.” Definitely yes.
He discovered Harbor (and also the public), for example, his own style of writing, a way free from the artist’s hurt by the impossibility of telling. “I just write when I want, I don’t get stuck.” She also writes in the early hours of the morning. “I make myself a coffee and think: ‘How will the story unfold today?’” She admitted that moment was “the best of the day.” So he writes, writes as much as he wants, and when he gets tired, he starts listening to music. In fact, he heard it just yesterday on the Gijón odeon stage: Martín García’s Liszt. But they could have been “The Beatles” too. Murakami’s relationship with music is like a baroque fan.
So where do your ideas come from? “I hope they fall from the sky,” he said. And he described the situation that led to his first novel, “Hear the Wind Sing”: “I was watching a baseball game and thought I could be a writer.” And this method has benefited him greatly in each of his books. “I’m trying to make a long novel, then a short novel, then a long novel…” And he added: “I don’t know which one I like more.” And without thinking, he completed the message: “Maybe long novels are more fun.” And he believes it because it “gives more time to enjoy it,” which is why it’s written. And he speaks. And persuade and cultivate new readers. A thousand and half of Spain returned home, ready to swallow “the City and its vague walls.” His last one. It still hasn’t been translated into Spanish. “Read it,” he encouraged.