Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami

June 1, 2020
A lively account of the many people involved in bringing Haruki Murakami's writings to English-speaking readers. Literature originates with an author's imagination, but the final product is the work of a team of professionals, from agents and editors to marketing staff and cover designers. The task of bringing the work of an author who writes in another language to English-speaking audiences is even more complex. In this admiring work, first printed in Japanese in 2018, Karashima travels "back in time to tell the stories of the colorful cast of characters who first contributed to publishing Murakami's work in English." The vibrancy of those colors varies from person to person. Among the subjects are Murakami's first translator, Alfred Birnbaum, an American who came to Japan with his family at age 5, got a job translating for Kodansha International, "one of the leading publishers of Japanese literature in English translation," and translated A Wild Sheep Chase in 1987, when Murakami was unknown outside Japan; Elmer Luke, a Chinese American editor who, in Murakami's words, "started the engine" when he sold his work to the American market; editors at the New Yorker, including former editor-in-chief Robert Gottlieb, who, Karashima argues, "may have been pivotal to Murakami's career" by publishing his early stories; and later translators such as Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel. Parts of the book are extraneous; there's little point in quoting someone whose response to a question about the U.S. publication of A Wild Sheep Chase is to say he doesn't recall any details. But readers interested in Murakami will enjoy learning about the challenges and trade-offs involved in translation, from the different styles of his translators to his philosophical acceptance of the changes the New Yorker made to his work because that publication "has a large number of readers and they also pay really well." A fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of publishing.

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Starred review from June 8, 2020
Karashima, a Japanese novelist, makes his English-language debut with this illuminating look at the “Murakami phenomenon,” which saw Haruki Murakami rise from being little-known outside Japan to global popularity. The book begins with Murakami’s first two novels to appear in English, Pinball, 1973 and Hear the Wind Sing, as part of a series for English-language learners within Japan. It continues through Murakami becoming a “New Yorker author” in 1990 with the appearance of his story “TV People,” and climaxes with the breakout hit of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’s English-language publication in 1997. Karashima profiles key players in this process, notably including Murakami’s first translator, Alfred Birnbaum, who took a circuitous path to working with the author, from an initial interest in Japanese art, to teaching pottery and calligraphy and studying tea ceremonies in Japan, to becoming entranced by Murakami’s flair for humor and the surreal. Using texts, faxes, letters, and interviews, Karashima clarifies the close working relationship between Birnbaum, Murakami, and editor Elmer Luke, as well as the falling-outs that occurred as Murakami’s career took off. Murakami fans will particularly revel in Karashima’s comprehensive coverage, but anyone curious about the alchemy and sheer amount of work that goes into making a single author’s success will be entranced by this fascinating work.

September 1, 2020

As a glimpse into the world of literary translating, this latest from Karashima (creative writing, Waseda Univ., Tokyo; coeditor, March Was Made of Yarn) provides a necessary service. After all, what reader hasn't paused in the midst of a novel by Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky to wonder about the translator: "Who were the Maudes?" "Who was Constance Garnett?" When we read War & Peace, we may even find ourselves contemplating: how much is Tolstoy and how much Maude or Garnett? Karashima sheds light on these and many other questions readers and would-be translators might have, beginning in 1973 with the detailed story of Haruki Murakami's first English-language translator, Alfred Birnbaum. Readers are almost 20 pages into this section before a headline announces: "Birnbaum Discovers Murakami." Interestingly enough, Birnbaum did his first Murakami translation, the short story "New York Mining Disaster," just for fun. Yet, thus began the process of Murakami becoming the international literary sensation he is. Rich with details about editors and markets, and the number of hands at work, the layers of readers and voices that come together to make a story happen is fascinating, mysterious, and well told. VERDICT Readers not obsessed with Murakami or translating may find themselves periodically overwhelmed by the minutiae, but anyone who cares about the process of translating and the variables involved will be richly rewarded. Recommend for academic and public libraries with robust Japanese literature collections.--Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Acad., Houston

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