Dance Dance Dance (novel)
 1st edition (Japanese) | |
| Author | Haruki Murakami |
|---|---|
| Original title | ダンス・ダンス・ダンス Dansu dansu dansu' |
| Translator | Alfred Birnbaum |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Kodansha International (JPN) |
Publication date | January 1994 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 393 pp |
| ISBN | 4-7700-1683-2 |
| OCLC | 28218488 |
| 895.6/35 20 | |
| LC Class | PL856.U673 D3613 1994 |
| Preceded by | A Wild Sheep Chase |
Dance Dance Dance (ダンス・ダンス・ダンス, Dansu dansu dansu) is the sixth novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. First published in 1988, the English translation by Alfred Birnbaum was released in 1994. The book is a sequel to Murakami's novel A Wild Sheep Chase, although the plot lines are not entirely contiguous.[citation needed] In 2001, Murakami said that writing Dance Dance Dance had been a healing act after his unexpected fame following the publication of Norwegian Wood and that, because of this, he had enjoyed writing Dance more than any other novel.[1]
Plot summary
The novel follows the surreal misadventures of an unnamed protagonist who makes a living as a commercial writer. The protagonist is compelled to return to the Dolphin Hotel, a seedy establishment where he once spent the night with a woman he loved, despite the fact he never even knew her real name. She has since disappeared without a trace, the Dolphin Hotel has been purchased by a large corporation and converted into a slick, fashionable, western-style hotel.
The protagonist begins experiencing dreams in which this woman and the Sheep Man — a strange individual dressed in an old sheep skin who speaks in a monotonous rush — appear to him and lead him to uncover two mysteries. The first is metaphysical in nature, viz. how to survive the unsurvivable. The second is the murder of a call-girl in which an old school friend of the protagonist, now a famous film actor, is a prime suspect. Along the way, the protagonist meets a clairvoyant and troubled 13-year-old girl, her equally troubled parents, a one-armed poet, and a sympathetic receptionist.
Major themes
Several of the novel's themes are hallmarks of Murakami's writing. Dance Dance Dance deals with themes of loss and abandonment, as do many of Murakami's other novels. Often, the male protagonist in a Murakami novel will lose a mother, spouse, or girlfriend. Other common Murakami themes this novel includes are alienation, absurdity and the ultimate discovery of a human connection.
There is a character in the story named Hiraku Makimura, which is an anagram of "Haruki Murakami." Makimura of the novel is also a best selling author.
Differences in English Translation
The supernatural character known as the Sheep Man speaks differently between the two versions. The character speaks normal Japanese in the original work, but in the English translations, his speech is written without any spaces between words. It should be noted that written Japanese does not typically demarcate words with spaces.
Book information
Dance Dance Dance (English edition) by Haruki Murakami; translated by Alfred Birnbaum.
- Hardcover ISBN 4-7700-1683-2, published in January 1994 by Kodansha International
- Paperback ISBN 0-6797-5379-6, published on January 31, 1995 by Vintage Press
References
- ^ Jay Rubin. Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words. Vintage, 2005.
External links
- Exorcising Ghosts Pages of reviews and articles
- Official Haruki Murakami Website
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