Rainy Days and Hot Days
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
As an editor, I believe the book's value lies not only in its distinctive documentary quality but also in revealing another side of Murakami's creative philosophy—the exploration of "boundaries." Whether geographical, cultural, or spiritual, Murakami records boundaries with an almost anthropological coolness while always retaining a novelist's sensitivity to detail. The passages on solitude, faith, exhaustion, and perseverance often inadvertently touch on spiritual predicaments shared by modern people.
In terms of reading experience, Rain, Day, Sun has a well-paced rhythm; the contemplation of the rainy part contrasts sharply with the action of the sunny part, a structure that is itself like a carefully arranged literary journey. The Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition reads smoothly and preserves Murakami's characteristic language rhythm to the greatest extent. For readers who want to go beyond the label of "novelist Murakami" and understand the many dimensions of his work, this book is a rare entry point.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who love Haruki Murakami's work and want to understand his nonfiction style
- Documentary literature lovers interested in religious culture and border travel
- Readers of travel literature who appreciate calm, restrained, detail-rich writing
- People eager to experience deep roaming through words amid a fast-paced life
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting Murakami's typical magical realist fiction
- Readers seeking light, entertaining travelogues who lack patience for cultural reflection
Reading tips
- Read the Greece section first, then the Turkey section, to feel the contrast between the "rainy" and "sunny" rhythms
- Keep a map handy to locate Mount Athos and the Turkish border while reading, for greater immersion
- The cultural reflection passages are suited to slow reading; consider taking notes between sessions
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 译者短语
- 希腊篇
- 再见，现实世界
- 阿索斯是怎样的世界？
- 从达菲尼到卡里埃
- 从卡里埃到斯塔夫罗尼基塔
- 伊比隆修道院
- 费罗塞修道院
- 卡拉卡尔修道院
- 拉布拉修道院
- 普罗德罗姆小修道院之行
- 卡胡索卡里贝亚
- 亚吉亚·安纳——再见，阿索斯
- 土耳其篇
- 兵
- 面包和茶
- 土耳其
- 黑海
- 霍帕
- 凡湖猫
- 哈卡里之行
- 哈卡里（2）
- 万宝路
- 24号国道的噩梦
- 24号国道沿线
FAQ
Is this book very different in style from Haruki Murakami's novels?
Do I need to know Greek or Turkish cultural background in advance?
Is this book suitable as an introduction to Haruki Murakami?
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese novelist and translator of American literature, born in 1949 in Fushimi, Kyoto, and a graduate of Waseda University. He entered the literary world in 1979 with Hear the Wind Sing and has since continued to produce novels, essays, and interview-based nonfiction, with 57 titles by him carried on this site. His fiction often traces urban individuals' sense of loneliness, loss, and self-discovery, moving between the real and the surreal in a light yet introspective tone that has become a highly recognizable personal style. Representative works include Norwegian Wood, A Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, many of which are classed as classics and foreign literature. He has also translated American writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his own work has been translated into many languages and recognized with international awards including the Franz Kafka Prize and the Jerusalem Prize, giving him wide influence among contemporary world literature readers.
Lin Shaohua, born in 1952 in Jiutai, Jilin, with ancestral roots in Penglai, Shandong, is a renowned Chinese literary translator and essayist who previously served as a professor at the College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China. Since translating Norwegian Wood in 1989, he has devoted himself to introducing Japanese literature to Chinese readers, translating more than forty works by Haruki Murakami as well as notable works by Natsume Soseki, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and Yasunari Kawabata. His fluent and nuanced translations have won him a wide readership in the Chinese-speaking world and have profoundly influenced the reception of Murakami and modern Japanese literature in China. In 2018, he received the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation. His translations span novels, essays, and interview collections, with representative works including Snow Country, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kokoro, The Setting Sun, and The Izu Dancer.
