Wind/Pinball (Knopf, $25.95) pairs the first two novels Haruki Murakami wrote; Hear the Wind Sing dates from 1979, Pinball, 1973 from 1980. Early works as they are, these novellas show many of the hallmarks readers have come to associate with this beguiling Japanese writer: the arctic beauty of loneliness, the camaraderie of outcasts, sex and loss, and Murakami’s signature evocation of listlessness and pointed longing, all of which testify to the singular intensity of this artist’s literary imagination. Yet these are unmistakably first novels. Hear the Wind Sing is a cryptic work, but one enhanced by what it reflects of its writer’s unique metaphorical mind in the raw. Pinball, 1973 features a typical Murakami narrator—a character obsessed with an unspecific but sharp yearning—perhaps a yearning to have something to yearn for. In most Murakami novels, such a figure would undertake a spiritual journey to some sort of resolution, but this piece is more nihilistic. Seasoned fans will be fascinated to see Murakami the writer slowly emerge from Murakami the dreamer, right before their eyes. For those who have been reluctant to approach Murakami’s surreal magical realism, this neat little volume is the perfect entrance to an incomparable world.
