Haruki Murakami Resources - a wild sheep chase

a wild sheep chase (羊をめぐる冒険, Hitsuji o meguru bōken)

First Published in Japan by Kodansha (1982)

Translated by Alfred Birnbaum

Published in English in 1989 by Kodansha English Library (Japan)

US Edition:
Paperback: xxx pages
Publisher: Vintage (1993)
ISBN-10: xxxxxxxxxx

UK Edition:
Paperback: xxx pages
Publisher: Vintage (2000)
ISBN-10: xxxxxxxxxx

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To sleep with a woman: it can seem of the utmost importance in your mind, or then again it can seem like nothing much at all. Which only goes to say that there's sex as therapy (self-therapy, that is) and there's sex as pastime.

excerpt available on the Random House site

synopsis

The second book in the "Trilogy of the Rat" series, it is preceded by Hear the Wind Sing (1979) and Pinball 1973 (1980)

As with many of Haruki Murakami's novels, the plot curdles with complex diversity only to be resolved by a collision between wild fantasy and outright slapstick. A Wild Sheep Chase refers aptly to the tradition of cool but kitsch detective sagas. Except here, the metaphoric goose is now a literal sheep with a distinctive marking; an urban myth with the promise of immortality.

The anonymous narrator is a mild-mannered thirtysomething with a more than understanding attitude--things happen because they are supposed to and there's no sense standing in the way of progress or nature. It takes the disappearance of a friend and some gentle intimidation from a right wing conglomerate to break the pattern of apathy and send him off on his adventure.

Murakami's detail of the most mundane situations makes his lead character endearing. Those who've read Murakami before will recognise that certain empathy for the strange thoughts and rituals that are now hallmarks of his wry humour. Although an unlikely hero, the quest for a missing friend and the support of a lover with mysterious ears takes him off in search of the elusive sheep in a bizarre adventure--danger and absurdity hindering every movement.

from amazon.co.uk

articles

NAMELESS IN MURAKAMI HARUKI’S A WILD SHEEP CHASE by ELIZABETH CARTER University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Murakami Haruki: The Simulacrum in Contemporary Japanese Culture by Michael Seats - chapter on HTWS - except available from Google Book Search

This book offers a new approach to dealing with Murakami's radical narrative project by demonstrating how his first and later trilogies utilize the structure of the simulacrum, a second-order representation, to develop a complex critique of contemporary Japanese culture. This critique is mirrored in the practices of current media-entertainment technologies which allow Murakami's works, and their critical/promotional meta-texts, to cohere under the rubric of the so-called 'Murakami Phenomenon.' Published 2006, Lexington Books, ISBN 0739107852

reviews

New York Times - Young and Slangy Mix of the U.S. and Japan By HERBERT MITGANG

Slashdot - review by David Mazzotta

Just the Myths Ma'am - New York Times review by ANN ARENSBERG

Haruki Murakami's Supernatural War by Katie Wadell

hanamiweb.com review

amazon light page

The wikipedia page on the novel

librarything.com page for the novel

concretebadger.net review

Pattern Blue review

Three Penny overview of Murakami's work, including Wild Sheep Chase by Francie Lin