After Dark
Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0385663463
ISBN 13
9780385663465
Category
830-899 Other Literature
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Publication Year
2007
Publisher
Pages
208
Subject
Metaphysics -- Fiction. Tokyo (Japan) -- Fiction. Metaphysics.
Tags
Abstract
A story about two sisters set in Tokyo one night from midnight till dawn exploring the themes of loneliness and secrecy
Description
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments
A short, sleek novel of encounters set in the witching hours of Tokyo between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakamis masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore.
At its center are two sisters: Yuri, a fashion model sleeping her way into oblivion; and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Dennys into lives radically alien to her own: those of a jazz trombonist who claims theyve met before; a burly female “love hotel” manager and her maidstaff; and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman. These “night people” are haunted by secrets and needs that draw them together more powerfully than the differing circumstances that might keep them apart, and it soon becomes clear that Yuris slumber–mysteriously tied to the businessman plagued by the mark of his crime – will either restore or annihilate her.
After Dark moves from mesmerizing drama to metaphysical speculation, interweaving time and space as well as memory and perspective into a seamless exploration of human agency – the interplay between self-expression and understanding, between the power of observation and the scope of compassion and love. Murakamis trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.
“Eyes mark the shape of the city. Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature–or more, like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has indeed passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the citys moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding.”
from After Dark
About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into 38 languages. The most recent of his many honors is the Franz Kafka Prize, whose previous recipients include Elfriede Jelinek and Harold Pinter.
Publisher Comments
A short, sleek novel of encounters set in the witching hours of Tokyo between midnight and dawn, and every bit as gripping as Haruki Murakamis masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore.
At its center are two sisters: Yuri, a fashion model sleeping her way into oblivion; and Mari, a young student soon led from solitary reading at an anonymous Dennys into lives radically alien to her own: those of a jazz trombonist who claims theyve met before; a burly female “love hotel” manager and her maidstaff; and a Chinese prostitute savagely brutalized by a businessman. These “night people” are haunted by secrets and needs that draw them together more powerfully than the differing circumstances that might keep them apart, and it soon becomes clear that Yuris slumber–mysteriously tied to the businessman plagued by the mark of his crime – will either restore or annihilate her.
After Dark moves from mesmerizing drama to metaphysical speculation, interweaving time and space as well as memory and perspective into a seamless exploration of human agency – the interplay between self-expression and understanding, between the power of observation and the scope of compassion and love. Murakamis trademark humor, psychological insight, and grasp of spirit and morality are here distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.
“Eyes mark the shape of the city. Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature–or more, like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has indeed passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the citys moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding.”
from After Dark
About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into 38 languages. The most recent of his many honors is the Franz Kafka Prize, whose previous recipients include Elfriede Jelinek and Harold Pinter.
Biblio Notes
Genre/Form: Magic realism (Literature)
Fiction
Magic realist fiction
Material Type: Fiction
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Haruki Murakami; Jay Rubin
ISBN: 9780385663465 0385663463
OCLC Number: 80431924
Notes: Translation of: Afutadaku.
Description: 191 p. ; 24 cm.
Responsibility: Haruki Murakami ; translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin.
Fiction
Magic realist fiction
Material Type: Fiction
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Haruki Murakami; Jay Rubin
ISBN: 9780385663465 0385663463
OCLC Number: 80431924
Notes: Translation of: Afutadaku.
Description: 191 p. ; 24 cm.
Responsibility: Haruki Murakami ; translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin.
Number of Copies
1
