%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/murakami-haruki_7286.jpg]] Most authors don't write simultaneous futuristic thrillers and pastoral fantasies about people with slashed eyes. Most authors don't write about chains of events set off by a missing cat. Most authors don't write about 15 year-old Oedipuses.

Most authors are not Haruki Murakami (born January 12, 1949).

Murakami's works include twelve novels, dozens of short stories, an autobiography, and a non-fiction book of essays and interviews exploring a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack terrorist attack on Tokyo's subways that occurred in 1995.]] He achieved literary super-stardom in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} with the publication of ''Literature/NorwegianWood'', but opinion is very much divided among the Japanese literary community whether he is a genius or a purveyor of somewhat odd popular fiction. His fans say, [[TakeAThirdOption why not both?]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Fiction: ]]


[[index]]
'''Novels:'''
* The “Trilogy of the Rat”
** ''Literature/HearTheWindSing''
** ''Literature/Pinball1973''
** ''Literature/AWildSheepChase''
* ''Literature/HardBoiledWonderlandAndTheEndOfTheWorld''
* ''Literature/NorwegianWood''
* ''Literature/DanceDanceDance''
* ''Literature/SouthOfTheBorderWestOfTheSun''
* ''Literature/TheWindUpBirdChronicle''
* ''Literature/SputnikSweetheart''
* ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore''
* ''Literature/AfterDark''
* ''Literature/OneQEightyFour''
* ''Literature/ColorlessTsukuruTazakiAndHisYearsOfPilgrimage''
* ''Literature/KillingCommendatore''

'''Short story collections:'''
* ''The Elephant Vanishes'', which includes ''Literature/BarnBurning'', the basis for movie ''Film/Burning2018''.
* ''Literature/AfterTheQuake''
* ''Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman'', which, along with ''Super-Frog Saves Tokyo'' from ''After the Quake'', adapted into a French animated film of the same name.
* ''Let’s Meet in a Dream'' [[/index]](in collaboration with Creator/ShigesatoItoi)[[index]]
* ''Men Without Women'', which includes ''Drive My Car'' - [[Film/DriveMyCar the basis for the 2021 movie of the same name]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Non-Fiction: ]]

* ''Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche''
* ''What I Talk About When I Talk About Running''
* ''On Music''
[[/index]]

Murakami's fiction often concerns dreams, sex, violence, the inexplicable, loneliness, parallel worlds, jazz and cats.
----

!! Murakami and his works provide examples of the following:
* AmnesiacLover: The narrator imagines that he and his dream girl are actually both examples of this in "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning."
* AuthorAppeal:
** Murakami seems bizarrely fixated on ''ears'', for some reason.
** He’s also a ''huge'' jazz fan. In a 2007 essay for [[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/books/review/Murakami-t.html the New York Times Book Review]], he discussed his his prior career as a jazz club proprietor in Tokyo, named Peter Cat, and the influence and inspiration that his writing has drawn from jazz music.
** He also ''loves'' reading--basically, all of his protagonists are avid readers.
** Wells and cats also appear in much of his work.
** Adolescent or pubescent girls, often troubled and/or with difficult lives, tend to appear in his books. They usually strike a bond with the protagonist, who becomes a sort of protector.
** He also ''loves'' whisky--a collection of whiskies reduced to pieces and spilled liquid is his idea of nightmare fuel. And an antagonist is named after a well-known Scottish brand.
** Many characters in his series are [[AbstractApotheosis concepts given physical form]]. Such as [[Literature/KafkaOnTheShore Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders]].
** Suicide shows up a lot in his works, particularly in ''Literature/NorwegianWood'' and ''Literature/ColorlessTsukuruTazakiAndHisYearsOfPilgrimage''
* BadAssBookworm: Murakami himself, who is a triathlete and marathon runner (which is the main subject of his memoir).
* CatsAreMagic: Pops up frequently, especially in ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore''.
* CreatorsOddball: In contrast to his other, more experimental and postmodern novels, ''Norwegian Wood'' is a fairly straightforward coming-of-age/love story.
%%* DreamSequence: Almost every book has at least one.
%%** EroticDream: Almost as frequently.
* FirstInstallmentWins: Discussed in ''What I write when talking about writing'', in which he considers Creator/ErnestHemingway first two books,''Literature/TheSunAlsoRises'' and ''Literature/AFarewellToArms'' alongside Nick Adams stories to be the best stories of the man. He remarks these tales have an energy to them that takes his breath away, but later stories lack the impact of the first.%%invoked
* FixFic: ''Samsa in Love'' is a more optimistic take on Creator/FranzKafka's ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis'' in which Gregor Samsa doesn't commit suicide and instead transforms back into a human with no memory of his experiences as a giant bug. Afterwards, he bonds with a hunchback woman while readjusting to the human world.
* FoodPorn: His books often have detailed descriptions of what the protagonist is cooking or eating.
%%* GenreBusting: Most of his works blend genres together.
%%* KindheartedCatLover: Just about every protagonist, thanks to AuthorAppeal.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: ''Literature/Pinball1973''[='s=] title is an allusion to Kenzaburo Oe's ''The Silent Cry'' (Japanese title ''Football, Man'en 1''[[note]]1860, according to the Gregorian calendar[[/note]]).
%%* LoveHurts: His protagonists tend to find this out the hard way.
%%* MagicalRealism: And how!
* MindScrew: In almost every single book. The notable exception to this is ''Literature/NorwegianWood'', which was his attempt to write a book very much unlike his usual work.
* NamelessNarrative: The [[Literature/HearTheWindSing Trilogy]] [[Literature/Pinball1973 of]] [[Literature/AWildSheepChase the]] [[Literature/DanceDanceDance Rat]], and ''Literature/HardBoiledWonderlandAndTheEndOfTheWorld''.
* NoEnding: Some of his stories. Most infamously, ''Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage''.
* NoExportForYou: Up until 2015, ''Hear the Wind Sing'' and ''Pinball, 1973'' had never been published outside of Japan (with the odd exception of Thailand), as Murakami was [[OldShame not anxious for a wider audience to find his earliest work]]. Translations into English have been published for students of English in Japan, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes and can be found here and there on the internet]]. Both works finally got a wider English release in 2015, combined into one volume as ''Wind/Pinball: Two Novels''.
%%* OldShame: ''Hear the Wind Sing'' and ''Pinball, 1973''.
* TrilogyCreep: ''Literature/DanceDanceDance'' to the "Trilogy of the Rat".
%%* TwoLinesNoWaiting: ''Literature/HardBoiledWonderlandAndTheEndOfTheWorld'', ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore'', ''Literature/OneQEightyFour''.
----