wearing the greek mask

MURAKAMI

"She has a half-sane, half-insane mind. It’s a Greek mask: if you see her from this side, she’s a tragic character; if you see her from the other side, she’s comic. In that sense, she’s very symbolic. I like that character very much. I was happy when I wrote her, Reiko-San."
Quote from Paris Review.

Simfonietta arms.

Photoset found on theartofanimation.

The 100% perfect simple story of a boy and a girl.

“A boy meets a girl. They have separated and are looking for each other. It’s a simple story. I just made it long.” says Murakami about his 1Q84 novel. Q is from the question mark. An amplification, they say, of his popular short novel “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning,”

Have you read it? The short novel, I mean. I think I have. Or imagined, or dreamed, but it was there, in my mind, like for ever. It's the simple story. In the 100% perfect 5 pages. The boy is 32, the girl is 30. They met years ago and they immediately knew they were 100% perfect lovers for each other. They crossed, talked and acknowledged their 100% perfectness for each other. But they wanted even more, they wanted the destiny to certify. So they tempted it. They will put their 100% perfect match to test. They decided to separate and wait to meet again. Someday. One day. If they were 100% perfect for each other, they will meet again.

But then time passes and they forget they have met. And one day, many years after, one beautiful April morning, the boy walks from west to east and the girl walks from east to west along the same narrow street. Crossing the same spot once again. But the memories have faded away. Life rushed them away like ocean stormy waves. And they don't remember each other anymore. Then "without a word, they passed each other, disappearing into the crowd. Forever."

Whether they were 100% perfect each other even once, it has faded away. It' the simple story.