Week 1: April 8–11, 2010

after the quake
By Haruki Murakami, adapted by Frank Galati

Over the last three decades, Haruki Murakami’s prize-winning novels (Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore) have heralded the onset of a new generation of Japanese literature. Surreal, yet filled with quotidian detail; influenced by American pop culture as much as by Japanese tradition; characterized by a deadpan humor that covers deep feeling—Murakami is Japan’s Kurt Vonnegut, a Thomas Pynchon for the Far East. In after the quake, an elliptical short fable inspired by the Kobe earthquake and its aftermath, Murakami’s full range of expression is on display. Tender, nostalgic, fantastical, and utterly modern—a unique perspective on the Tokyo of today, yesterday, and tomorrow.

•  Thursday, April 8^th at 7 pm
•  Friday, April 9^th at 8 pm
•  Saturday, April 10^th at 8 pm
•  Sunday, April 11^th at 2 pm

Digital Dramaturgy

Disaster Strikes

On January 17, 1995, Japan - already numbed by a recent economic collapse - was shaken by the most devastating quake to hit the country in over seventy years. Two months later, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released the toxic nerve agent sarin on underground trains during rush hour, afflicting thousands. It was largely as a response to these disasters, and to their effect on the Japanese people, that Haruki Murakami would write after the quake.

• Adieu to the Bubble
• The Great Hanshin Earthquake
• The Sarin Subway Attack

Haruki Murakami

An accomplished novelist, short story writer, and translator - indeed, he is one of Japan's foremost writers - Haruki Murakami pens oft-wild tales in which nothing is certain and anything at all might occur. Artfully weaving the mundane with the fantastical, he creates stories through which surge questions of life and meaning, of truth and emptiness.

• Haruki Murakami and after the quake
• Stories of the Quake
• The Music of Murakami
• In His Own Words
• From His Fiction

Adapting the Quake

In 2002, after the quake was first published in English, courtesy of translator Jay Rubin. Three years later, the Steppenwolf's Frank Galati adapted two of the stories - "super frog saves tokyo" and "honey pie" - into a piece for the theater.

Murakami in Translation: Harvard professor Jay Rubin stands as a foremost translator of Murakami's work, opening after the quake and numerous other pieces to English readers.

• Translating More than Words: An interview with Brave New Traveler in which Jay Rubin shares his thoughts on working with Murakami's writing, and on the close connection that he finds with his translations.
• Translating: Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel (another translator of Murakami's work) are joined by editor Gary Fisketjon in an email roundtable through which they share their experiences with Murakami's writing, and speak of working with the Japanese language.

Adapter Frank Galati: In 2005, Frank Galati adapted the English version of after the quake into the theatrical piece first produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater (he has since adapted Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, as well.)

• Master of the Art of Adaptation: On the Steppenwolf's website, Galati discusses his adaptation of after the quake, including its musical elements, as well as Galati's own perceptions of Murakami's work.
• Artistic Director Interviews the Adapter/Director: Having adapted both after the quake and Kafka on the Shore, Galati offers his thoughts on Murakami's work.
• Frank Galati on Haruki Murakami: Video Interview in which Galati discusses Murakami.

For further bits, pieces, and musings on after the quake, check out our dramaturgy blog.