For Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, the conflict in the Gaza Strip proves that real and metaphorical walls continue to divide the world. Now, first of all, he wishes for peace. In the long term, however, he does not stop hoping that reading books can not only provide a person with an escape from an increasingly harsh reality, but on the contrary help him understand it more deeply.
“I have Jewish friends in Israel. But at the same time, I am aware of how miserable the situation of the Palestinians is, which I saw during my visit to Israel,” the writer told the AP agency. “I can’t determine which side is right and which is wrong. I just hope for peace,” he avoids political commentary.
The attack on Israel by the terrorist movement Hamas and the subsequent retaliatory actions by Israel in the Gaza Strip are not the subject of Murakami’s novel this year, entitled The City and its Uncertain Wall, which has so far only been published in Japanese and will also reach readers in the Czech translation by Tomáš Jurkovič only next year.
Nevertheless, Murakami sees a certain parallel between world events and the subject of his prose. “In my book, the walls are real, physical. But at the same time, they have a metaphorical plane,” thinks the seventy-four-year-old author. “Walls have many meanings for me. I’m a bit claustrophobic, if you lock me in a confined space for a long time, I start to panic a bit. So I think about walls often,” he continues, recalling how he first visited the German capital when the Berlin Wall was still standing . “When I was in Israel and I saw the six-meter wall, it scared me a little too,” he mentions.
The Berlin Wall was built by the communist authorities in the early 1960s with the aim of preventing further escape of citizens to the western part of the city. It fell in 1989. The security barrier separating Israel from the West Bank was started by the predominantly Jewish state build in 2003 in response to a series of suicide attacks by Palestinians. After building the wall, which the International Court of Justice in The Hague called illegal, attacks decreased.
Writer Murakami avoided public events and did not give interviews for years. Now he flew exceptionally to Europe to receive the Prize of the Princess of Asturias. It is awarded by the foundation of Princess Leonor, the seventeen-year-old heir to the Spanish throne, after whom the award is named. It is connected with the amount of 50 thousand euros, i.e. about 1.2 million crowns.
Haruki Murakami with the Princess of Asturias Award. | Photo: Reuters
The jury appreciated that Murakami “was able to combine the Japanese tradition with the heritage of Western culture with ambitious, innovative storytelling methods”.
In this context, the AP agency recalls the author’s book The Writer as a Profession, which was published six years ago by Odeon in a translation by Tomáš Jurkovič. In it, Murakami expresses his belief that by reading prose, people sharpen their judgment, learn not to make hasty decisions, and come to terms with the fact that there is no simple answer to many questions about love or loss in life.
The writer did not abandon this thesis. Today, he just adds to it that while journalism and analysis of world events are indispensable, we also need to absorb metaphorical, “slower” or figurative information. “Only in this way will we better understand the world, which is constantly changing due to new technologies, while eternal religious and national conflicts continue to shake it,” Murakami thinks.
“Take fake news, for example. This is a topic that novels could easily tackle and win. Fake news has little chance of winning the battle against the truth. People who get hold of true stories can definitely see through the lies,” believes the novelist.
He hasn’t started work on the next title yet, first he needs to gain strength. “I am 74 years old. I don’t know how many more books I will be able to write. But whatever I start to write, I will really care about it,” he promises.
In the back are King Philip VI. of Spain, Queen Letizia of Spain (right) and their daughter Leonor, Princess of Asturias. Haruki Murakami stands in the foreground. | Photo: Reuters
For his 15th novel of the year, The City and its Uncertain Wall in the Spring, Japanese people lined up in front of bookstores all evening. When the doors opened at the stroke of midnight and people could grab the copies stacked on a table just outside the entrance, some cheered and clapped, local public broadcaster NHK reported.
Komtur’s death was the last of Murakami’s novels to reach Czech readers in 2018.
Haruki Murakami already holds the Jerusalem Prize or the Franz Kafka Prize, which he received in Prague in 2006. Bettors previously mentioned him as a possible candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature, but he did not win this year either. The Swedish Academy preferred the Norwegian playwright and writer Jon Fosse.
The Japanese man of letters says that this does not bother him because, unlike his writing, he cannot influence the prices. “In general, I try not to pay too much attention to all kinds of awards, because it’s not me who decides about them, but someone else. I’m more interested in things that I can influence myself,” he explains.
She accepts the prize of the Princess of Asturias with gratitude. “But it’s just a consequence of the most amazing thing in the world, and that’s being able to tell your story,” he concludes.
