Latest Haruki Murakami Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I've translated a lot of American literature into Japanese, and I think that what makes a good translator is, above all, a feel for language and also a great affection for the work you're translating. If one of those elements is missing the translation won't be worth much.

  Haruki Murakami

  Thinking, Missing, Elements

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• Music always stimulates my imagination. When I'm writing I usually have some Baroque music on low in the background chamber music by Bach, Telemann, and the like.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Imagination, Chamber Music

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• I don't know a whole lot about symbolism. There seems to me to be a potential danger in symbolism. I feel more comfortable with metaphors and similes.

  Haruki Murakami

  Symbolism, Metaphor, Danger

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• What I'd like to be is a unique writer who's different from everybody else. I want to be a writer who tells stories unlike other writers'.

  Haruki Murakami

  Unique, Different, Stories

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• Kafka is one of my very favorite writers. Kafka's fictional world is already so complete that trying to follow in his steps is not just pointless, but quite risky, too. What I see myself doing, rather, is writing novels where, in my own way, I dismantle the fictional world of Kafka that itself dismantled the existing novelistic system.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Trying, World

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• When I write a novel I put into play all the information inside me. It might be Japanese information or it might be Western; I don't draw a distinction between the two.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Play, Two

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• I can't imagine how American readers will react to a novel, but if the story is appealing it doesn't matter much if you don't catch all the detail. I'm not too familiar with the geography of nineteenth century London, for instance, but I still enjoy reading Dickens.

  Haruki Murakami

  Reading, Matter, Details

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• Myths are the prototype for all stories. When we write a story on our own it can't help but link up with all sorts of myths. Myths are like a reservoir containing every story there is.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Stories, Links

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• I think people who share my dreams can enjoy reading my novels. And that's a wonderful thing. I said that myths are like a reservoir of stories, and if I can act as a similar kind of "reservoir," albeit a modest one, that would make me very happy.

  Haruki Murakami

  Dream, Reading, Thinking

  Source: www.bookbrowse.com

• It is my huge pleasure that my novels are translated into languages that are read among small numbers of people.

  Haruki Murakami

  Small Numbers, People, Language

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• I write my novels personally, desperately and non-negligently. When I write my novels, I think about my novels only, and never do other works.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Thinking, Novel

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• I have read all my novels that were translated into English. Reading my novels is enjoyable because I forget almost all the content in them.

  Haruki Murakami

  Reading, Forget, Novel

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• Crying is personal. On the other hand, laughing is more general . Laughing makes our hearts wider.

  Haruki Murakami

  Heart, Hands, Laughing

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• I always write my novels with music (I don't listened to the music seriously.) Music seems to encourage me.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Novel, Seems

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• All things in my novels are real for me. Some western critics said that Garcia Marquez's novels are magic realism. However, I believe that Marquez must have experienced everything in his novels.

  Haruki Murakami

  Real, Believe, Magic

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• The best point of my novels, I think, is their humor. I want to keep many my works humorous.

  Haruki Murakami

  Humorous, Thinking, Want

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• Narratives have the same power, I think. Some readers of my novels ask me, "Why do you understand me?". That's a huge pleasure of mine because it means that readers and I can make our narratives relative.

  Haruki Murakami

  Mean, Thinking, Narrative

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• Adults need more complex narratives. They have their own narratives. The main characters are themselves.

  Haruki Murakami

  Character, Adults, Needs

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• It is however, difficult to make your narratives relative by yourself. A novelists' work is to provide models to make your narratives relative. If you read my novels then you may feel, "I have the same experience as this narrative", or "I have the same idea as this novel". It means that your narrative and mine sympathize, concord and resonate together.

  Haruki Murakami

  Mean, Ideas, Together

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• I never made any plan before writing, however I succeeded. I enjoyed writing with excitement ,"what happen on the next page?"

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Pages, Next

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• I wrote my first two long novels and an anthology of short narratives, when I was a manager of my own jazz bar. There was not enough time to write and I didn't know how to write novels. Therefore, I made written collages of aphorisms and rags.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Two, Long

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• I closed my own jazz bar so I could be a man who can write novels as I like. I was pleased about that. This pleasure was connected to the pleasure of writing.

  Haruki Murakami

  Writing, Men, Bars

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• A man is like a two-story house. The first floor is equipped with an entrance and a living room. On the second floor is every family member's room. They enjoy listening to music and reading books. On the first underground floor is the ruin of people's memories. The room filled with darkness is the second underground floor.

  Haruki Murakami

  Memories, Book, Reading

  Source: yositeru.blogspot.com

• When a writer develops a story, he is confronted with a poison that is inside him. If you don't have that poison, your story will be boring and uninspired. It's like fugu: The flesh of the pufferfish is extremely tasty, but the roe, the liver, the heart can be lethally toxic.

  Haruki Murakami

  Heart, Toxic, Poison

• Running taught me to have faith in my skills as a writer. I learned how much I can demand of myself, when I need a break, and when the break starts to get too long. I known how hard I am allowed to push myself.

  Haruki Murakami

  Running, Skills, Long