South of the Border, West of the Sun
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. 1st Edition. 8vo. Fine / Fine. Item #16158
A beautiful 1st Edition of this tough-to-come-by title from the award winning Japanese writer.
"Murakami wrote the novel in 1992, as a visiting scholar at Princeton University. The English translation, by Philip Gabriel, was released in 1999.
"The first half of the title refers to the song "South of the Border"; the story features a fictional recording by Nat King Cole. The other half of the title refers to an Inuit syndrome called Piblokto or Arctic (or Siberian) hysteria. In the novel, Shimamoto compares her ennui to "hysteria siberiana", explaining through a story:
"Try to imagine this, you’re a farmer, living all alone on the Siberian tundra. Day after day you plow your fields. As far as the eye can see, nothing. To the north, the horizon, to the east, the horizon, to the south, to the west, more of the same. Every morning, when the sun rises in the east, you go out to work in your fields. When it’s directly overhead, you take a break for lunch. When it sinks in the west, you go home to sleep. In the winter they stay home and do indoor work. When spring comes, they head out to the fields again. Anyway, that cycle continues, year after year, and then one day, something inside you dies. Maybe nothing or maybe something in the west of the sun. At any rate, it’s different from south of the border.
"Hajime, born in 1951, belongs to the first generation of Japanese born after World War II. Most families had at least two or three children, so Hajime is forlorn being the only child without any siblings. This situation and people’s prejudice shape his view of the world.
"The author himself was an only child who operated a successful jazz bar."
Black paper over boards. Square tight binding. Clean interior. Little, if any, wear. Jacket equally nice. Presents handsomely in archival mylar.
A lovely edition of this scarce Murakami work.
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