I am worrying about my country. I feel I have a responsibility as a novelist to do something.
Haruki MurakamiOur memory is made up of our individual memories and our collective memories. The two are intimately linked. And history is our collective memory. If our collective memory is taken from us - is rewritten - we lose the ability to sustain our true selves.
Haruki MurakamiNever trust a man who carries a handkerchief, I always say. One of many prejudicial rules of thumb.
Haruki MurakamiIโve had that kind of experience myself: Iโm looking at a map and I see someplace that makes me think, โI absolutely have to go to this place, no matter whatโ. And most of the time, for some reason, the place is far away and hard to get to. I feel this overwhelming desire to know what kind of scenery the place has, or what people are doing there. Itโs like measles - you canโt show other people exactly where the passion comes from. Itโs curiosity in the purest sense. An inexplicable inspiration.
Haruki MurakamiYou have to be practical. So every time I say, if you want to write a novel you have to be practical, people get bored. They are disappointed. They are expecting a more dynamic, creative, artistic thing to say. What I want to say is: you have to be practical.
Haruki MurakamiWere the stars out when I left the house last evening? All I could remember was the couple in the Skyline listening to Duran Duran. Stars? Who remembers stars? Come to think of it, had I even looked up at the sky recently? Had the stars been wiped out of the sky three months ago, I wouldnโt have known.
Haruki Murakami