NORUWEI NO MORI

   Named for a famous Beatles’ tune, Noruwei no mori (1987; tr. Norwegian Wood, 1989), by Murakami Haruki, is a novel set in 1960s Tokyo at a time of worldwide student protests. The novel focuses on a low-key university student Watanabe Toru, who wanders through a number of relationships as he experiences love and loss. The protagonist’s general ambivalence about life and the events he experiences mirror the contemporary lack of student resolve and passion during Japan’s version of campus unrest. The novel has been translated into English twice, in 1989 and 2000.

   See also POSTMODERNISM.