After Dark, his latest endeavor, is to come from print within this month.
Murakami, 55, has a Waseda University degree in French philology and classical drama. He emerged into the literary limelight even with his debut, the novella Listen to the Song of Wind, 1974, which brought him the Gunjo magazine award for beginner authors. The writer spent the early 1990s in the USA.
A majority of his works have been translated into Russian, and came out in a lump number of copies exceeding two million-all long-standing bestsellers.
"I am in a never-ending quest for a style all my own. That personal style changes from book to book. My quest is not unlike climbing stairs-something new opens to the eye with every new step you make," the modern classic said in an interview.
Fedor Dostoyevsky, his favorite author, won Murakami's love with subtle psychological insights and exquisitely built-up suspense, which makes him into-the-night reading, rivaling the cream of crime stories.
To write a book "matching The Karamazov Brothers for profundity and expressive power" is Murakami's cherished dream.
The Japanese regard Dostoyevsky as one of the world's best authors. He was the inspiration of many Japanese men of letters. In fact, the entire Russian literature has long been in the focus of Japanese readers' attention.
