Original title: Tailor-made drawing by a well-known German illustrator (quote)
Haruki Murakami’s “Birthday Girl” Publishes Illustrated Edition (Theme)
West China Metropolis Daily – Cover News Reporter Zhang Jie
Intricate and exquisite printing process to create works of art – this is why physical books cannot be completely replaced. When Haruki Murakami’s classic works meet the well-known German illustrator Manschke’s 22 surreal illustrations, what will be the effect? ——The whole book has become a fantasy theater that presents Murakami’s magnificence three-dimensionally.
Recently, New Classic Culture released the fourth work “Birthday Girl” jointly created by Haruki Murakami and Manschke after “Sleep”, “Assault on the Bakery” and “Library Strange Talk”. A series of bright pink, orange, and red illustrations create an immersive reading experience. With the translation by Shi Xiaowei, a senior translator of Haruki Murakami’s works, the eccentricity of Haruki Murakami’s short stories is restored to the extreme.
The plot of the novel comes from the author’s personal experience
Do you remember what you did on your twentieth birthday? When you hear this question, what kind of picture will emerge in front of your eyes? For Haruki Murakami, the answer is clear: on January 12, 1969, his twentieth birthday, he was working as a waiter in a coffee shop. Although it was a rare birthday, it was reasonable to take a day off, but Haruki Murakami couldn’t find someone to change his shift. The first day of my twenties passed by without seeing anything out of the ordinary.
But no matter how ordinary, the birthday itself should be extremely precious. The reason why Haruki Murakami believes so firmly is because “whether rich or poor, famous or unknown, tall or short, children or adults, good people Regardless of the wicked, everyone is given this “special day” once a year, which is extremely fair. Isn’t it wonderful that things are so fair?” Holding this pure belief, he Wrote “The Birthday Girl”, wishing the existence of birthdays and the fairness that resides in their particularity. After reading this book, readers can have a panoramic view of the iconic scene of Haruki Murakami’s fantasy theater. In the pen of the well-known German illustrator Carter Manschke, this hesitant narrative is dyed with a bright surreal color.
Illustrator who created “Germany’s most beautiful book”
Manschke was born in Luckenwald, Germany in 1968. In 2007, he won the Troisdorf Picture Book Award. In 2014, his work “Golden Spade” was selected as the “Most Beautiful Book in Germany” of the year. Shi Xiaowei, the Chinese translator of this edition, has translated Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84”, “When I Talk About Running, What I Talk About”, “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Pilgrimage Years”, “My Occupation Is a Novelist” Wait.
“The Birthday Girl” is a famous article collected in Japanese middle school Chinese textbooks. In the novel, the girl who celebrates her 20th birthday goes to work as a waiter as usual. She was always on duty on Friday, and if everything had gone according to plan, she would have had the night off. However, on this rainy night, the girl who had agreed to change shifts with her was bedridden, and the lobby manager was sent to the hospital. The ordinary days seemed to be suddenly out of order. Before departure, the manager assigned her to deliver food for the restaurant owner who lived in room 604 for him. When the doorbell was pressed, an old man wearing a tie the color of withered leaves appeared. This was the boss whom he had never met before. Knowing that that day was the girl’s twentieth birthday, the old man offered to fulfill a wish for her. The old man also gave the girl such a blessing: “May your life be fruitful and nothing cast a shadow on it.”
Regarding the creation background of this novel, Murakami wrote in the postscript: “In this story, the girl who is the protagonist lives in loneliness. It even started to rain. So, will there be a last-minute reversal waiting for her?”