The Silence in Words(a)|无声的文字

The Silence in Words

by Olivia Wycech

Some people look at cats and sneeze, while others look at them and turn them into books.

　　Not a lot is known about award-winning Japanese author Haruki Murakami's personal life, but there is a lot to be said about a man who has been referred to as one of the world's greatest living novelists and even more about his work. Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1949, Murakami grew up living all over Japan before attending a prestigious arts university in Tokyo. He, however, had little interest in academics and chose not to follow in the conventional, work-dominated way of his generation. Much to the dismay of his parents, Murakami married before finishing college, and he and his wife opened a coffee house and jazz bar in Tokyo called Peter Cat. Not long after, at the age of 29, he decided to try his hand at writing and won himself a literary prize. He sold his bar and began writing while traveling around Europe with his wife. He finally settled in America, and the rest is history.

　　Fluent in English, Murakami writes and releases books in Japanese before they are translated into English and released to the Western world. The author has published some notable translations himself, including that of Truman Capote's work into Japanese. He is also an avid marathon runner and splits his time between his homes in Hawaii, Japan, and a third location which is an intangible space he retreats to and calls Over There. Among his favorite things are music, books, and cats, all of which are reoccurring themes in all of his books.

无声的文字

有些人看到猫会打喷嚏，而有些人看到猫会将牠们写成书。

 

　　生涯获奖无数的日本作家村上春树的个人生活并不太为人所知，但如果说到一位被称为是全世界仍在世的最伟大小说家之一，他就比较广为人知，而他的作品甚至比他本人更有名。村上春树于 1949 年生于日本京都，他在进入位于东京的一所著名艺术大学之前，在成长过程中在日本各地都住过。然而，他对学业没什么兴趣，所以他选择不遵循他这个世代中以工作为主的传统方式。令村上春树的父母失望的是，他在大学毕业前就结婚了，而且他和太太在东京开了一家咖啡店和爵士酒吧叫 Peter Cat。不久之后，在他二十九岁那一年，村上春树决定尝试写作，并赢得了文学奖项。他和太太环游欧洲时便卖掉了酒吧而开始写作。他最后在美国定居，接下来的事大家都知道了。

　　村上春树的英文很流利，因此他先以日文写作并出版书籍，然后再将这些书翻译成英文并出版至西方国家。这位作家自己也出版了一些有名作品的翻译本，其中包括将楚门‧卡波提的作品翻译成日文。他同时也很热衷于马拉松赛跑，并将他的时间都分给了他在夏威夷和日本的家以及一个供他休养的无形第三地，这地方就叫『那里』。村上春树最喜欢的事物就是音乐、书籍和猫，这些都是在他所有的书中不断出现的主题。