“I wrote, day after day, like a dream reader”

EXTRACT. Haruki Murakami publishes his new novel, the afterword of which constitutes an excellent introduction to his work and to this new book. Here it is, exclusively.

Each new Murakami novel is an event. This one perhaps even more: his last fictional text dates back to 2018. It was “The Murder of the Commander”. It took the star writer five years to complete this new fresco which will not disorient his loyal readers, even if they can expect surprises, and a sort of reboot of the universe of the ‘writer. Event also because the pandemic interfered with this writing time, and it was not without consequences, as Murakami explains in this very enlightening afterword. Finally, the book occupies a special place in the novelist’s work. It is a novel which first took the form of a short story. But the story continued to haunt him, to the point that he produced a first romantic version (“The End of Times”), then a second. This is the novel that is being released today by Belfond. Story of a dream city, of this city with uncertain walls that an apprentice writer imagined from scratch, and where a young man, her lover, occupies the role of dream reader. A devilishly dreamlike novel, a sort of medieval fantasy (we see unicorns) but also futuristic, of which Murakami gives you some keys here.

Didier Jacob

◗ The City of Uncertain Wallsby Haruki Murakami, translated from Japanese by Hélène Morita and Tomoko Oono, Belfond, 570 p., 25 euros.

Also read

“I closed my club and became a writer”

“I’m not a big fan of afterwords to my own novels, to tell the truth (because they often constitute, to one degree or another, a kind of self-justification), but this novel probably needs ‘a little lighting.

At the origin of the novel “The City of Uncertain Walls”, there is a fairly long short story bearing the same title (with one comma) and published in the literary magazine “Bungakukai” in 1980, of around one hundred and fifty pages. Although it was published, I wasn’t really happy with its content (for various reasons, I felt like I had brought this story into the world prematurely). Almost all my short stories have been published in book form, but not this one, neither in Japan nor elsewhere.

Yet, from the beginning, I felt that the story contained elements of crucial importance to me. Unfortunately, at the time, I did not have the literary capacity to work on an appropriate elaboration of these materials. I was just starting out as a novelist and hadn’t yet fully grasped what I could and couldn’t write. I was sorry this story was published, but what’s done is done. I kept it in mind, planning to revise it thoroughly when the time comes.

When I wrote this short story, I was managing a jazz club in Tokyo. With two activities at the same time, my life was rather hectic. So I couldn’t concentrate enough on writing. I enjoyed running this club (I like music, and the establishment was doing quite well) but, after writing several novels, I decided that I would earn my living solely from writing. So I closed my club and became a writer.

Thus relieved of this burden, I finished my first real novel, “The Race for the Wild Sheep”, in 1982. I then wanted to substantially rewrite “The City of Uncertain Walls”. But as it was hardly possible to transform this short story into a real novel, I decided to add another narrative component, completely different, in order to create a sort of “double story”.

These two aspects were to develop alternately and in parallel. My plan or rough idea was to let them merge into one whole at the end. But even I, the author, during the time I was writing them, didn’t know precisely how they would end up together. In fact, I hadn’t made a preliminary outline, I just wrote what came to mind…

Looking back, I recognize that the story was pretty crazy, but I never lost my optimism (or a certain fearless spirit) and remained firmly convinced that something would come of it. Convinced that everything would turn out well in the end. And as I approached it, as expected, the two narrative strands ended up merging into one. It was as if, when building a tunnel, the two sides met exactly in the middle to be happily reunited.

And this writing of “The End of Times” has been both exciting and extremely pleasant for me. The novel was published in large format hardcover in 1985. I was thirty-six then. During those years, many things moved and advanced very quickly, so to speak of their own accord.

But over the years, as I gained more experience as a writer and grew older, I increasingly felt that my unfinished work—or my immature work—namely, “the City of uncertain walls,” had not found the fulfillment it deserved. “The end of times” was certainly an answer, but the idea that there might be another answer, in a different form, began to germinate in me. Instead of “overwriting” it, it should accompany and, if possible, complement previous work.

However, it was not easy to develop a vision of this “other response”.

Also read

“When the virus started to rage in Japan, I started writing the novel”

It was only at the beginning of 2020 (we are now in December 2022) that I finally had the feeling that I could rewrite “The City of Uncertain Walls” from scratch. Exactly forty years had passed. I was thirty-one then, I am seventy-one now.

In many ways, there is a big difference between an aspiring author with two jobs and a seasoned writer who has gained a wealth of experience (if I may put it that way). But when it comes to spontaneous passion for writing a novel, the difference is not so big.

It should be added that 2020 was the year of the Covid pandemic. At the beginning of March, when the virus began to rage in Japan, I started writing the novel, and it took me almost three years to finish it. During this whole period, I barely left the house, I did not take a long trip and I wrote, day after day (like the dream reader who reads old dreams in the library), in these rather strange and tense conditions (interrupted by a long break/reflection period). These circumstances may have been important. Or not. But they certainly played a significant role. I have experienced this myself.

I finished the first part of the story and thought my work was done. But after I finished and let the manuscript sit for six months, this is what I felt: “No, this is not enough, the story must continue.” » So I started the second and third parts, and it took me much longer than expected for the whole story to come together.

In any case, I am very relieved to have managed to rewrite in a new form (or to finally complete) “the City of Uncertain Walls”. Indeed, this text has always remained in the corner of my head, yes, like a little ridge stuck in my throat. This little edge definitely had a very important meaning for me (as a writer and as a man).

I felt it again very clearly when I returned to the City to rewrite this story after forty years.

According to Jorge Luis Borges, there are only a limited number of stories that a writer can truly tell with sincerity in his lifetime. In a way, we are only able to process this limited number of patterns in different forms and with the means at our disposal.

In other words, truth does not lie in immutable immobility, but in constant change (in successive phases). This is the essence of narration as I understand it.

Haruki Murakami, December 2022

© Belfond, 2025 (translation from Japanese by Hélène Morita)

Also read

Haruki Murakami, bio express

Born in 1949 in Kyoto, Haruki Murakami opened a jazz club in 1974. He achieved success with his first book, “Listen to the Song of the Wind” (1979). Author of numerous successful novels, he is the winner of the Kafka Prize (2006).