The City and Its Uncertain Walls

Haruki Murakami is an acclaimed Japanese author born in Kyoto in 1949. He has published 19 books of fiction, including novels and short story collections, as well as 5 books of nonfiction. He has won many awards, both in Japan and internationally for such books as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1995) and Kafka on the Shore (2006). Murakami’s introduction to writing was unique, his career beginning through inspiration at a baseball game: “David Hilton, an American, came to bat. According to the oft-repeated story, in the instant that he hit a double, Murakami suddenly realized that he could write a novel. He went home and began writing that night” (“Author.” Haruki Murakami). This first novel was Hear the Wind Sing (1979), the first book in a loose trilogy that culminates in A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), which won Murakami international acclaim. Murakami’s style is often associated with magical realism, as he incorporates the fantastical and unreal into many of his novels, analyzing the complex interrelation between the real and the imagined. Murakami’s emphasis on memory and its impact on reality is featured heavily in many of his novels, including The City and Its Uncertain Walls.