Igår släpptes Hariku Murakamis nya roman 1Q84 i japan. I ett lyckat marknadsföringsdrag har handlingen hemlighållits, vilket ökat försäljningsvolymen rejält. Det har tidigare spekulerats i att 1Q84 är en referens till Orwells 1984, vilket känns rätt rimligt. Så här en dag efter tänkte jag att handlingen borde gå att finna på det stora internätet, men icke! Till och med Wikipedia vet lika lite som jag! I ett desperat försök använde jag mig av Google translate för att försöka uttyda något på Japanska Amazon, men ja, det gick sådär. Kanske är det så enkelt att ingen hunnit läsa ut boken ännu? Den är trots allt över 1000 sidor lång.
Är det någon som har bättre underrättelser än jag?
Andrea Maria Schenkel – Mordbyn
2 timmar sedan
3 kommentarer:
hm jag lyckades hitta detta "1Q84”the letter Q and the number 9 have the same pronunciation in Japanese. It opens with a woman named Aomame, which means “blue bean,” listening to Czech composer Leos Janacek’s “Sinfonietta” in a Toyota Crown Royal Saloon cab. The chapters alternate between Aomame and a male character named Tengo"
What's the book about? Murakami's publisher Shinchosha's website compares it to Orwell's masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four, stating "Where Orwell published a novel about the future, Murakami approaches the year from the opposite direction, creating an alternate past." Apparently, that's where the similarities end, however. The book follows the stories of two characters, one a writer and the other a young PE instructor who become involved with a mysterious cult. As the story unfolds, they create an alternate universe, "a mysterious past, different than the one we know," which the author character refers to as 1Q84. So what about that mysterious Q? It stands for the English word "question mark." Apparently the explanation comes on page 202: "1Q84 - that's what I'll call this new world. Q is the Q from 'question mark.' That which creates a question" (translation by Daniel Morales at howtojaponese.com, who is reporting on both his reading experience and his excellent taste in beer). As in, what the hell is this book about?
Early reviews (i.e. Amazon.co.jp) have been mixed, with some rhapsodizing over its "dream-like" qualities and others deriding it as "standard" Murakami fare. A few reviewers, however, have decided to hold their judgment until (drum roll) the rest of the book is released. They theorize that we can expect at least one and maybe even two more volumes. Their speculation is backed up by a number of compelling clues:
1. Murakami is said to have referred to this as his longest novel, yet at its current length, it is 127 pages shorter than the Japanese version of the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle's astounding 1,182 pages (which makes you realize how much must have been cut in the US translation.)
2. Apparently the second volume ends on a pseudo-cliffhanger.
3. The book's two volumes are labeled "One" and "Two," contrary to the Japanese convention of referring to the first volume of a two volume set as "up" and the second "down." This follows the same pattern as the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which was released in three volumes in Japan.
Q betyder alltså 9, OCH "?", det är ju logiskt. Låter som Murakami i alla fall. Synd att boken inte verkar vara en passning till 1984, det hade jag gillat. En dystopisk historia signerad Murakami hade varit mycket intressant.
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