Norwegian Wood (Vol. 1, Birnbaum translation)

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NORWEGIAN WOOD T Haruki Murakami KOOANSHA ENGLISH LIBRARY

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NORWEGIAN WOOD

Haruki Murakami Translated by

Alfred Birnbaum

KODANSHA KODANSHA INTERNATIONAL

CONTENTS

Originally published in Japanese under the title Noruwei no mori. Published by Kodansha Publishers Ltd., 1221 Otowa 2-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112 and Kodansha International Ltd., 17-14 Otowa 1-chome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112. Copyright © 1987 by Haruki Murakami. English translation copyright © 1989 by Kodansha International Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in Japan. ISBN 4-06-186051-8 First edition, 1989 Sixth printing, 1990

Chapter 1

7

Chapter 2

21

Chapter 3

51

Chapter 4

91

Chapter 5

163

Chapter 6

172

NOTES

275

CHAPTER

1

Here I am, thirty-seven years old, seated in a Boeing 747. The giant plane is diving into a thick cover of clouds, about to land at Hamburg Airport. A chill November rain darkens the land, turning the scene into a gloomy Flemish painting. The .airport work­ ers in their rain gear, the flags atop the faceless air­ ort buildings, the BMW billboards, everything. Just great, I'm thinking, Germany again. The plane completes its landing procedures, the NO SMOKING sign goes off, and soft background music issues from the ceiling speakers. Some or­ chestra's muzak rendition of the Beatles' "Nor­ wegian Wood." And sure enough, the melody gets to me, same as always. No, this time it's worse than ever before. I get it real bad. I swear my head is go­ ing to burst. I crouch forward and cover my face with my hands, and I just stay like that. Eventually a Ger­ man stewardess comes by to ask if I'm feeling ill. I'm fine, I answer, just a little dizzy.

p

"Are you sure you're all right?" "Really, I'm fine. Thanks," I say. The stewardess smiles and heads off. Meanwhile the music changes to a Billy Joel number. I look up at the dark clouds over the North Sea and think of how many things I've lost up to now in the course of living. Lost time, people dead or gone, feelings never to return. As the plane comes to a complete stop, all the while until people unfasten their seat belts and start taking down bags and jackets from the overhead compartments, I'm in the middle of a meadow. I can smell the grass, feel the breeze on my skin, hear the birds singing. It's the autumn of 1969. l'm about to turn twenty. The same stewardess comes back, sits down beside me, and asks if I'm feeling better. "I'm all right now, thank you. I was only feeling a little lonely," I say, cheerfully as I can. "I get the same way once in a while. I know what you mean." She nods as she gets up from the seat, then turns a lovely smile my way. "I hope you have a nice trip. Auf wiedersehen!" "Auf wiedersehen!" I echo. Even now, eighteen years later, I can still picture the meadow with amazing clarity. Several days of drizzle had washed away the last speck of that sum­ mer's dust, bringing out a deep, vivid green in the 8

hills. Tall stalks of pampas grass were swaying in the October breeze, thin trailing clouds frozen precisely in place against the blue overhead. The sky reached such heights it hurt your eyes just to look at it. Her hair stirred slightly with each puff of wind that swept across the meadow and passed on to the woods. Leaves rustled in the treetops, and far off somewhere a dog was barking. Tiny muffled cries that seemed to issue from the threshold of another world. Other than that, all was silent. Not a sound reached our ears. Not a soul did we en­ counter. Just two bright red birds y