Kafka on the beach

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Title: Kafka on the Beach

Author: Haruki Murakami

Translator: Simin Tajdini

Publisher: Atisa

Subject: Japanese stories – 20th century

Age category: Adult

Cover: Paperback

Number of pages: 512

Language: Farsi

Qty:
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Description

Kafka on the Beach is a book full of puzzles. “Kafka on the Shore” or “Kafka on the Beach” is a philosophical book in the fantasy genre, which has been included in the New Yorker’s top ten books of 2005.

The book has two seemingly separate but related storylines, each with a separate main character named Kafka Tamura and Saturo Nakata.

The individual chapters of the book belong to the story of Kafka Tamura and the even chapters belong to Saturo Nakata. Paired chapters are narrated in Kafka.

Kafka is a 15-year-old boy who decides to run away from home. Kafka’s mother and sister left home as children, and he lives with his sculptor father.

Kafka has two reasons for running away from home. The first is that his father cursed him and the second is that he wants to follow his mother and sister. Kafka is associated with an imaginary character.
This character called the raven father may be his conscience or something else.

Kafka and the Crow’s son talk to each other, and their conversations are key to a better understanding of the story.

The story becomes serious when Kafka leaves the house and wakes up in a temple when he is covered in blood.

The story of the couple chapters about Nakata is told in the third person.

The story of Nakata begins very strangely. The students have gone to a hill with their teacher and are collecting mushrooms.

All the students lose consciousness with Nakata and come to their senses after a while and do not remember anything about this incident, but the only one who does not regain consciousness is Nakata.
Nakata regains consciousness after a few weeks. He has lost his intelligence and can only talk to cats. That’s why he goes looking for lost cats.

The two characters do not meet each other, but their stories divorce. In principle, these stories were not separated from each other from the beginning and complemented each other.

This book tells the story of two characters in parallel;

Kafka is a 15-year-old boy who runs away from home to look for his missing mother and sister, and Nakata is a strange and mysterious old man whose ability to talk to cats will amaze you.

The stories of these two characters are different, but they are not separated and related in even the smallest details. Murakami skillfully incorporates Japanese indigenous culture into the story.

In fact, he subtly introduces the people of the world to the culture of the people of his country.

In this book, the author introduces us to a space between fantasy and reality and creates creative images;

A space that we only see in Murakami’s books. This space contains myths, metaphors, meanings and memories. Murakami’s metaphors are not far-fetched;

We just have to be aware that in his book we are going to encounter an amazing atmosphere that is full of metaphors.

At the heart of Murakami’s stories is a kind of mysterious absence. “It’s a secret,” he says. I honestly do not know where this feeling of loss comes from.

You might say, I have lost a lot of things in my life.
For example, I am getting old and my life is getting shorter day by day. I am constantly losing my time and resources. It is youthful and vibrant, that is, in a sense everything.

Sometimes I wonder what I’m looking for. I have my own mysterious space inside me.

It is a dark space. It’s a base I set foot on when writing.

In fact, it is a special door for me. The objects in this space may be the same things I lost on the way. I do not know. “It must be a kind of mourning.”

Excerpts from the book
“Each of us loses what is dear to us. Missed opportunities, missed opportunities. Feelings that we can never bring back.

“This is part of what they call living.”

Kafka on the Beach (Kafka on the Shore) uses two remarkable and remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home to escape a horrible fortune-telling that destinies his life. Greek mythologist Oedipus ties the knot and seeks out his mother and sister, whom he has not heard from for a long time.

The other character is a naive old man named Nakata who does not have a very high level of intelligence and never recovers completely after an accident that happened to him during the war.
During the events of the book, he is drawn to Kafka for a number of reasons; But like many everyday activities, Nakata is not caught for any of these reasons.

When the two characters’ lives unfold and the reasons for this convergence become apparent, Haruki Murakami creates for his readers a wonderful world in which cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and ghosts flirt. Or committing murder, crawling out of their bodies.

Kafka on the beach marks the height of maturity of one of the world’s best storytellers, Haruki Murakami.
About the Author of Kafka on the Beach: Haruki Murakami, World Wide Writer
In today’s world of literature, Haruki Murakami is one of the most amazing and popular writers, publishers and singers around the world, especially in Iran.

At present, it can be said that this Japanese author is one of the authors whose books are on the bestseller list in the world.

His work has been translated into more than forty-two languages ​​around the world, and the Franz Kafka Prize is one of the largest awards Murakami has ever received.

One of the points that has always been considered in literary circles is that he was one of the most deserving people to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, but he has not yet succeeded in receiving it.
The book “Wild Sheep” by the same author has won the “Noma” literary award. Born in Kyoto in 1949, he began writing at the age of thirty. Murakami is known around the world for his novels and short stories.

He studied theater at university but started a jazz club because of his great interest in music. Interestingly, he named the club “Peter Kat” because of his great interest in cats.

After leaving the club, Murakami began writing professionally at the age of 30 and became less professional. Murakami never agreed to have a radio or television interview.

In addition to writing, he has also worked in the field of translation.
His most famous stories include “Where Can I Find Him”, “Kafka on the Shore”, “What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Two”, “Norwegian Forest”, “Cookie Yearbook”, “After Dark”, ” “Dance Dance Dance”, “Land of Soulless Wonders and the End of the World”, “Elephant Disappears”, “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman”, “After the Earthquake” and “Underground”.

The formation of his first novel, Listen to the Wind, came to him after watching a baseball game.

Excerpts from Kafka’s book on the shore
– Listen … there is no war that will end all wars. War grows in war.

-If you remember me, it will no longer matter to me that others forget me.

– Life without reading Hamlet once is like living in a coal mine.

– When we test ourselves later, we realize that all the criteria we have lived by have risen to another level and the world has opened up unexpected ways for us.

Excerpts from the text of Kafka’s book on the beach
When a war breaks out, many are forced to enlist in the army. They take up arms and go to the front, forcing them to kill the soldiers on the other side. As much as they can.

No one cares whether you like to kill others or not. It is something you have to do. Otherwise you will be killed. Johnny Walker pointed a finger at Nakata’s chest. “Bang!” He said. “Human history in one word.”

Closing your eyes does not change anything.

Because you do not want to see what happens, nothing disappears.

In fact, the next time you roll your eyes, things get worse. This is the world we live in, Mr. Nakata. Open your eyes.

Only the coward closes his eyes. Blindfolding and sticking cotton in the ear does not stop time from moving.
Man does not choose his destiny. Fate chooses man. This is the basis of the worldview of Greek drama, and the meaning of tragedy – according to Aristotle – derives from the play of the times, not from the hero’s weakness, but from his good qualities. Do you know where I want to go?

People are increasingly drawn to tragedy not by their own shortcomings, but by their own virtues.

Oedipus Rex Sophocles is a prime example. Oedipus is drawn to tragedy not because of laziness and stupidity, but because of courage and honesty. So the inevitable result is bitter humor or the game of the day.

The library was like my second home. Maybe it was a more real home because I lived in it.

As I went there every day, I met all the librarians who worked there. They knew my name and always said hello. However, I was very shy and rarely answered.
When building the library, the head of the family decided not to follow the simple and elegant style desired by Kyoto artists, and instead made the design more like a country house.

However, as you can see, despite the rude structure of the building, the sofa, furniture and picture frame are elegant and luxurious. For example, the carvings of these wooden frames are very delicate. All the masters of Shikoku handicrafts gathered to work on the construction of this building.

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Kafka on the shore

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Additional information

نویسنده

هاروکی موراکامی

Translator

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