1Q84
1Q84 (いちきゅうはちよん, Ichi-Kyū-Hachi-Yon, stylized in the Japanese cover as "ichi-kyuu-hachi-yon") is a novel written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, first published in three volumes in Japan in 2009–10.[1] It covers a fictionalized year of 1984 in parallel with a "real" one. The novel is a story of how a woman named Aomame begins to notice strange changes occurring in the world. She is quickly caught up in a plot involving Sakigake, a religious cult, and her childhood love, Tengo, and embarks on a journey to discover what is "real".
Not to be confused with Nineteen Eighty-Four.Author
Japanese
May 29, 2009 (Books 1 and 2)
April 16, 2010 (Book 3)
Japan
October 25, 2011
Print (hardcover)
928
The novel's first printing sold out on the day it was released and sales reached a million within a month.[2] The English-language edition of all three volumes, with the first two volumes translated by Jay Rubin and the third by Philip Gabriel, was released in North America and the United Kingdom on October 25, 2011.[3][4][5][6] An excerpt from the novel appeared in the September 5, 2011 issue of The New Yorker magazine as "Town of Cats".[7] The first chapter of 1Q84 had also been read as an excerpt in the Selected Shorts series at Symphony Space in New York.
While well received in Japan, 1Q84 was met with mixed reviews from international critics, who condemned the novel's excessive repetition, clichéd writing, clumsy styling and unyielding plot.[8] Literary Review nominated one excerpt from the book for its annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award.[9][10]
Plot summary[edit]
The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized version of the year 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and December.
The first two books have a dual narrative (like several of Murakami's earlier novels). One tells the story of a man called Tengo Kawana and the other follows a woman called Aomame. Their stories draw closer together and eventually unite into a single narrative. In book three, a third protagonist is added in Ushikawa, a character who had appeared in Murakami's earlier novel, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. All the main characters are united by a trait of being able to see two moons appearing.
The book begins with Aomame getting out of a taxi on the Shuto Expressway. After descending down the stairs, during a traffic jam, on a highway, she starts to realize that she has crossed into an alternate dimension. This world is very similar to hers but with several differences, the most obvious of which is that the Earth now has two moons.
It is revealed that Aomame is a hitwoman and that she specializes in killing abusive men. In her part of the story, she befriends a policewoman called Ayumi, who is later murdered, then works with an old lady called “the dowager” to assassinate the leader of a cult.
Tengo, meanwhile, is tasked with re-writing a novel written by a teenage girl called Eriko Fukada. He later discovers that her magical realist novel is actually a true account of her life in a cult and that she did not write the story but rather dictated it. The novel is called Air Chrysalis and involves a race of supernatural beings called “the Little People.”
Aomame and Tengo, who had known each other when they were ten years old, attempt to find one another, each believing that they are destined to fall in love. When Tengo has sex with Fukada and Aomame assassinates the cult leader, it opens a portal through which Tengo impregnates Aomame. The two later find each other and escape into what they hope is the real version of 1984, but which appears to be another world due to subtle differences they notice. As with many other Murakami novels, the ending is ambiguous.
Publication history[edit]
The novel was originally published in Japan in three hardcover volumes by Shinchosha. Book 1 and Book 2 were both published on May 29, 2009; Book 3 was published on April 16, 2010.
In English translation, Knopf published the novel in the United States in a single volume hardcover edition on October 25, 2011, and released a three volume paperback box-set on May 15, 2015. The cover for the hardcover edition, featuring a transparent dust jacket, was created by Chip Kidd and Maggie Hinders.[13] In the United Kingdom the novel was published by Harvill Secker in two volumes. The first volume, containing Books 1 and 2, was published on October 18, 2011,[14] followed by the second volume, containing Book 3, published on October 25, 2011.[15]
Background information[edit]
Murakami spent four years writing the novel after coming up with the opening sequence and title.[16] The title is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of the year 1984 and a reference to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The letter Q and 九, the Japanese number for 9 (typically romanized as "kyū", but as "kew" on the book's Japanese cover), are homophones, which are often used in Japanese wordplay.
Before the publication of 1Q84, Murakami stated that he would not reveal anything about the book, following criticism that leaks had diminished the novelty of his previous books. 1Q84 was noted for heavy advance orders despite this secrecy.[17]
Cultural influences[edit]
As in many of his previous works, Murakami makes frequent reference to composers and musicians, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi and Leoš Janáček, whose Sinfonietta pops up many times at crucial points in the novel. A verse from the 1933 song "It's Only a Paper Moon" by Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg and Billy Rose, appears in the book and is the basis for a recurring theme throughout the work. In addition, Murakami refers to other artists such as Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus and The Rolling Stones.[18]
The text also quotes a lengthy passage about the Gilyak people from the travel diary Sakhalin Island (1893–94) by Anton Chekhov.
The structure of the novel refers to Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier (alternate "major key" Aomame and "minor key" Tengo story lines forming 48 chapters of Books 1 and 2) and Goldberg Variations (Book 3).
Religious themes[edit]
In accordance with many of Murakami's novels, 1Q84 is dominated by religious and sacred concepts.[19] 1Q84's plot is built around a mystical cult and two long-lost lovers who are drawn into a distorted version of reality.[19] 1Q84 assigns further meaning to his previous novels[19] and draws a connection between the supernatural and the disturbing.[19] Readers are often cited as experiencing a religious unease that is similar to postmodern sensibilities. This unease is accomplished through Murakami's creation of characters whose religious prescriptions are presented as oppressive, as exemplified in the character of Leader, who is the founder of the Sakigake cult.
Religious othering is a major theme in 1Q84, as Murakami places sacred ideas as existing separately from everyday reality. This separation is often cited as emphasizing that Murakami has a view of religion as a negative force, which lies in opposition to normal, everyday life; Murakami himself is quite silent about his personal religious beliefs.[19]