Haruki Murakami | Jean-Michel Serres, Composer-pianist (Apfel Café Music): Website

5 April 202120 February 2025

Haruki Murakami a prononcé un discours lors d’une cérémonie d’entrée à l’Université Waseda

Le 1er avril 2020, Haruki Murakami a prononcé un discours devant 1400 étudiants de première année lors d’une cérémonie d’entrée du département de littérature et de culture de son ancienne école de l’Université Waseda, tout en utilisant ses expressions et métaphores uniques. Ce qu’il a dit est ci-dessous.

« Bonjour. Félicitations pour ton admission. Toujours le monde, mais ne s’installe pas facilement, cette année c’est donc se retrouver ici avec tout le monde, pour fêter ensemble les nouveaux départs je trouve ça super.

Je suis entré au département de littérature de cette université il y a plus de 50 ans (1968), mais à cette époque, je n’avais pas de désir particulier de devenir romancier.

Mais quand je me suis marié, que j’ai obtenu mon diplôme universitaire et que j’étais occupé à travailler tous les jours, j’ai soudainement eu envie d’écrire un roman, et quand j’ai soudain réalisé que je suis devenu un romancier comme celui-ci. D’une manière ou d’une autre, ça s’appelle Nariyuki, ou quelque chose qui m’y a amené. Je ne le comprends pas vraiment moi-même.

Au fait, je me suis mariée pendant que j’étais à l’école, alors je me suis d’abord mariée, j’ai commencé à travailler et j’ai finalement obtenu mon diplôme. L’ordre a été inversé par rapport à celui des gens ordinaires. Je ne recommande pas vraiment ce mode de vie, mais c’est quelque chose qui peut être fait.

Donc, je pense qu’un romancier ne peut pas être très intelligent. C’est parce que les gens intelligents pensent tout de suite aux choses. Les romans écrits auxquels je pense dans ma tête ne sont généralement pas très intéressants. Vous ne pouvez pas écrire un bon roman sans y penser avec votre cœur, pas avec votre tête.

Cependant, écrire des phrases que d’autres personnes liront utilise beaucoup de tête, donc je travaillerai ma tête au besoin. Mais c’est juste le bon moment pour être une personne talentueuse et non un étudiant d’honneur. Il est difficile de trouver le bon moment.

Parce que certains étudiants de la Faculté des lettres et de la Faculté de la culture, des médias et de la société, vous voudrez peut-être devenir romancier, mais veuillez trouver un bon équilibre entre eux. Je pense que l’Université Waseda est un environnement assez approprié pour un tel travail.

Cet automne, le Musée international de la littérature (bibliothèque Haruki Murakami) ouvrira ses portes sur ce campus de Waseda. C’est un espace où les étudiants peuvent utiliser librement des livres, du matériel et des collections de musique.

La devise de la bibliothèque, ou le mot à l’entrée, est “Ouvrons une histoire, disons à nos cœurs”. Cela peut nécessiter quelques explications.

Tout d’abord, il semble facile de parler de son cœur, et c’est assez difficile. Parce que nous pensons généralement que c’est notre esprit, parce que ce n’est qu’une petite partie de notre esprit. En d’autres termes, notre conscience n’est rien de plus qu’un seau d’eau pompée de l’étang de nos cœurs. La zone restante est intacte et est laissée comme une zone inconnue.

Mais ce qui nous émeut vraiment, c’est le cœur restant. Ce n’est pas de la conscience ou de la logique, c’est un cœur plus large et plus grand. Alors, comment pouvons-nous trouver le royaume inconnu de cet esprit? Comment puis-je trouver la source du pouvoir qui m’émeut vraiment? Une des choses qui joue ce rôle est l’histoire.

L’histoire met en lumière des zones de l’esprit où notre conscience ne peut pas être bien lue. Il transforme notre esprit indicible en une forme de fiction qui émerge au figuré. C’est ce que nous, les romanciers, essayons de faire. Par exemple, c’est la fonction de base du roman. Il y a quelque chose appelé «par exemple» qui ne peut être exprimé que sous une forme de remplacement en une seule étape. En parlant de ronds-points, ce sont des ronds-points, n’est-ce pas?

Par conséquent, le roman est de peu d’utilité directe pour la société. Quoi qu’il en soit, ce n’est pas comme un médicament ou un vaccin à action rapide. Cependant, sans le travail du roman, la société ne peut pas avancer de manière saine.

C’est parce que la société a aussi un cœur. Des choses qui ne peuvent être ramassées uniquement par la conscience et la logique. Les choses qui sont laissées pour compte. C’est le rôle de la littérature dans le roman de ramasser de telles choses fermement et lentement. Le roman comble le fossé entre l’esprit et la conscience.

Par conséquent, les romans ont été repris par des personnes sous diverses formes et dans divers endroits depuis plus de 1000 ans. Le métier de romancier s’est transmis comme un flambeau. Je serais très heureux si certains d’entre vous héritaient du flambeau, ou s’il y avait quelqu’un qui la chérirait chaleureusement et la chérirait.

Encore une fois, félicitations pour votre entrée. Passez une bonne année sur ce campus. »

Articles et pages similaires

Book Review | Novelist as a Profession

Note (EN) | Novelist as a Profession

Timeline of Haruki Murakami

Works of Haruki Murakami

Literature / littérature / Literatur Page

5 April 202123 August 2023

Haruki Murakami Made a Speech at An Entrance Ceremony of Waseda University

On 1st April, 2020, Haruki Murakami made a speech to 1400 freshmen at an entrance ceremony of the department literature and culture of his old school Waseda University, while using his unique expressions and metaphors. What he said is below.

“Hello. Congratulations on your admission. Still the world, but does not settle down easily, this year is thus to gather here with everyone, to celebrate the new beginnings together I think that’s great.

I entered the literature department of this university more than 50 years ago (1968), but at that time, I didn’t have any particular desire to become a novelist.

But when I got married, graduated from college, and was busy with work every day, I suddenly felt like “I want to write a novel”, and when I suddenly realized I became a novelist like this. Somehow, it’s called Nariyuki, or something that led me to it. I don’t really understand it myself.

By the way, I got married while I was in school, so I got married first, started work, and finally graduated. The order was reversed from that of ordinary people. I don’t really recommend that way of life, but it’s something that can be done.

So, I think, a novelist can’t be very smart. That’s because smart people think about things right away. The written novels that I think of in my head are usually not very interesting. You can’t write a good novel unless you think about it with your heart, not your head.

However, writing sentences that other people will read uses a lot of head, so I will work my head as needed. But it’s just the right time to be a talented person and not an honor student. It’s hard to find the right time.

Because some of students of the Faculty of Literature and the Faculty of Culture, Media and Society, you may want to become a novelist, but please find a good balance between them. I think Waseda University is a fairly suitable environment for such work.

This fall, the International Literature Museum (Haruki Murakami Library) will open on this Waseda campus. This is a space where students can freely use books, materials, and music collections.

The motto of the library, or the word at the entrance, is “Let’s open up a story, let’s tell our hearts”. This may need some explanation.

First of all, it seems easy to talk about your heart, and this is quite difficult. Because we usually think this is our mind, because it is only a small part of our whole mind. In other words, our consciousness is nothing more than a bucket of water pumped from the pond of our hearts. The remaining area is untouched and is left as an unknown area.

But what really moves us is the remaining heart. It’s not consciousness or logic, it’s a broader, bigger heart. So how do we find the unknown realm of that mind? How can I find the source of the power that really moves me? One of the things that plays that role is the story.

The story sheds light on areas of the mind where our consciousness cannot be read well. It transforms our unspeakable mind into a form of fiction that emerges figuratively. That’s what we novelists are trying to do. For example, this is the basic function of the novel. There is something called “for example” that can only be expressed in a one-step replacement form. Speaking of roundabouts, it’s roundabouts, isn’t it?

Therefore, novel is of little use to society directly. No matter what, it’s not like a quick-acting drug or vaccine. However, without the work of novel, society cannot move forward in a healthy manner.

This is because, society also has a heart. Things that cannot be scooped up by consciousness and logic only. Things that are left behind. It is the role of literature in the novel to scoop up such things firmly and slowly. The novel fills the gap between the mind and consciousness.

Therefore, novels have been picked up by people in various forms and in various places for over 1000 years. The profession of a novelist has been handed down like a torch. I would be very happy if some of you would inherit the torch, or if there was someone who would warmly and cherish it.

Once again, congratulations on your entrance. Have a nice and fulfilling year on this campus.”

Book Review | Novelist as a Profession by Haruki Murakami, Switch Publishing, 2015

Novelist as a Profession by Haruki Murakami is an auto-biographical essay (on the afterword, mentioned by Murakami). This essay treats themes of novelist, novel, literature, writing, art, school education and life. On this essay Murakami told how he lived, spent his life, wrote novels, think about literature and novel. Anyway, as a result, for readers, this essay Murakami told readers how to write novel and induced them to write a novel. But it is not a usual “how to” book or a guide book at all.

On this essay, Murakami wrote honestly his experience, way of life, thought and policy. He didn’t want to be a novelist seriously. At first, he had no enthusiasm to write novel. He ran a jazz cafe or bar, and earned a sufficient amount of money. Some epiphanies, chances and lucks made him a novelist. Also he continued to write novels of his own will.

Murakami is an ordinary and modest person, also is uncategorized and unconventional individual. He was a usual student, spent a daily life as an ordinary and normal citizen. Also he isn’t a stereotyped great writer or artist.

Murakami’s policy is such as a policy of non-policy or non-rule. He live and write by spontaneousness, freedom and nature. He doesn’t depend on any authorities, academism and large systems. He live his life the way he like. He doesn’t interest in any prizes and the Japanese literature scene. So he migrated to foreign countries, and made a distance to the Japanese literature scene.

His policy links to his way of writing and the content of his works. He writes his novels the way he like. He writes a novel by rhythm and free improvisation like jazz. He doesn’t set a heavy and proper theme, a strict plan and fixed personalities of characters. His policy and way of writing made the “voice” echoes with the hearts of readers.

Murakami wrote his novels for himself, “writing for enjoy myself as my basic stance” (p. 269). So the title of a novel by an imaginary writer Derek Heartfield in Murakami’s debut novel Hear the Wind Sing is “What’s Wrong About Feeling Good ?” (p. 270), it expressed the sense of incongruity to the Japanese literature scene.

Murakami has been enjoyed writing and wrote by his spontaneousness from his debut until now. And he has no desire to become a novelist or to succeed in a novel, and there’s any limitations. He alway wrote a novel by a plentiful and spontaneous pleasure. So he can own “a natural feeling that I’m free” and “free and natural feeling” (p. 111), and he thinks his originality caused by freedom.

On the other hand, Murakami has will and durability to write story, and his original way of work. He had been built his own style of writing and his original grand narrative by trial and error. When he write a long novel 5 hours in early morning everyday. And he trains the body and keeps his physical strength without fail. He founded healthy life for writing. He thinks to complete a long novel it’s necessary of concentration and durability.

Murakami is only a novelist and a creator. He isn’t good at analyse and criticize things like a scholar, also he want not his works analysed and criticized by scholars and critics. He won’t be a councillor or a literature prize, also he isn’t interested in any prizes. Over almost 40 years, he only wrote novels and texts. He only want to enjoy writing a novel. Murakami thinks he is only an ordinary person has a certain measure of capacity to write a novel, but by some chances and accidents made him a novelist, and by his will and durability he continued to write novels. I think Murakami told that “everyone can write a novel and become a novelist”. As a matter of fact, by this book, you should want to write a novel or create something.

A spring clear afternoon, Murakami visited the 1978 opening game of the Central League at an outfield stand of the Jingu Stadium, Tokyo. When the first batter of Yakult Swallows, Dave Hilton hit a fine double, an epiphany fell into Murakami, then he realized “That’s it, maybe, I can write a novel !” at the moment. (pp. 46 – 47) This essay makes you want to write a novel or want to do a creation. Like Murakami realized “That’s it, maybe, I can write a novel !”, to read this essay, you may realize “That’s it, maybe, I can write a novel !”.