The literary start of January 2025 opens under the sign of an event: the return of Haruki Murakami with The city with uncertain walls. This new novel, published in Japan in spring 2023, is finally arriving in France, arousing the enthusiasm of readers and critics.
Seven years later The murder of the CommanderMurakami, an essential figure in world literature, unveils a work where dreaminess, quest for identity and poetry combine. At 74, he continues his exploration of the limits between reality and imagination, in the tradition of his masterpieces such as Kafka on the shore or 1Q84.
A literary legend
Born in Kyoto in 1949, Haruki Murakami is one of the most translated and read authors in the world, with novels available in nearly 50 languages. Crowned with prestigious prizes, such as the Kafka Prize and the Princess of Asturias Prize, he has established himself with his unique style mixing fantasy and everyday life.
His iconic works, such as The ballad of the impossible, South of the border, west of the sun or 1Q84explore universal themes such as love, loneliness and the passage of time, while delving into dreamlike worlds that have fascinated generations of readers.
A dreamlike and universal story
In this new novel, Murakami constructs a universe that is both fascinating and confusing. The plot follows a 17-year-old young man who, out of love for an enigmatic young girl, abandons his shadow to enter a unique city where he becomes a “dream reader”. In this timeless place, clocks are frozen, unicorns cross ethereal landscapes and reality seems suspended.
Evoking a quest for “real me”, recurring theme with Murakami, The city with uncertain walls oscillates between identity fable and reflection on the limits of dreams and reality. As pointed out The Worldthe author is “a master of blurring”mixing “the tangible universe of the living” et “the second life of the dream”thus blurring the boundaries between concrete and imaginary.
An enthusiastic review
Unanimously praised by the French press, the work already seems to be establishing itself as one of Murakami’s masterpieces. For The New Obswhat a novel “will not disorient its loyal readers, even if they can expect surprises”evoking a “reboot of the writer’s universe”. For his part, The life loue “the enchanter” Murakami, capable of “to shift us from the most banal everyday life into a strange and parallel universe”.
The World describes the work as “deep dive into the labyrinths of the unconscious”Or “the shadows, precisely, play a cardinal role”. This dreamlike dimension, both melancholy and luminous, is illustrated by the narrator’s reflections: “The ends of the two worlds seemed to slide slightly past each other, as when the sea rises in an estuary at high tide.”
A work in continuity
While revisiting familiar themes – love, time, identity – Murakami offers here a work of new literary maturity. The pandemic, which influenced his writing, runs through this novel like a quest for balance between shadow and light. For News, The city with uncertain walls East “a colossal fresco” where the “fantastic expands dimensions in a maze-like way”.
