NEJIMAKI-DORI KURONIKURU

   Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru (1995; tr. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1998) is a novel by Murakami Haruki for which he received the Yomiuri Prize. The story revolves around Okada Toru, a lawyer unemployed by choice, and the people he meets while trying to find his wife’s cat, and later his wife, who both have inexplicably disappeared. Through Toru’s interactions with these characters, Murakami explores contemporary themes, such as the effect of the war on veterans, youth functioning outside the normal school system, spirituality, and mysticism. Set in a very Westernized Japan, the novel is accessible to non-Japanese readers, although its lack of plot and low-key protagonist disappointed some critics. Individual chapters appeared in English in the New York Times and other venues before the first full English translation was published in 1997.

   See also POSTMODERNISM.