12 Problems Only Haruki Murakami Fans Will Understand

5. Wanting To Climb Down A Well

Murakami once said €œMy lifetime dream is to be sitting at the bottom of a well€. To many people this probably sounds like insanity, but not to Murakami fans €“ they know exactly where he's coming from.

In Murakami's novels, wells and other subterranean spaces represent many things, from descending into one's own mind to the chance to emerge reborn and renewed. Take the underground caves found in Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World, for example, or the deep well at the end of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle which threatens to swallow Toru Okada whole. €œIt€™s my lifetime dream to be sitting at the bottom of a well. It€™s a dream come true. I thought: it€™s fun to write a novel, you can be anything! So I thought: I can sit at the bottom of a well, isolated € Wonderful!€ Rest assured, Murakami - fans know what you mean.
Contributor
Contributor

Commonly found reading, sitting firmly in a seat at the cinema (bottle of water and a Freddo bar, please) or listening to the Mountain Goats.