Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

　　《沒有色彩的多崎作和他的巡禮之年》是村上春樹睽違文壇三年最新長篇小說。敘述一位36歲鐵道工程師多崎作，在女友木元沙羅的鼓勵下，決定一個個去拜訪年少時集體遺棄他的摯友，展開關鍵旅程。

　　這部完全以現實人物為主角的小說，第一句就落筆驚人：「從大學二年級的七月，到第二年的一月，多崎作活著幾乎只想到死。」因「創」而死，因「作」而生。村上春樹將再次引領讀者進入他小說中慣常出現生死二元的世界。

　　新作最引人注目的部分，在於主角多崎作高中時代的四名好友，姓氏中分別帶有顏色：「赤」(赤松)、「青」(青海)、「白」(白根)、「黑」(黑埜)，相對地，「多崎」這個姓氏沒有色彩。高中畢業後，如正五邊形般完美的五人組，就在多崎作獨自離鄉背井，從名古屋前往東京學習營造車站後，大二時突然地被其他四人宣告絕交。一直以來自認不夠特殊沒有色彩的多崎作，應驗了內心自團體脫落的終極恐懼。

　　是命運？還是內在有令人失望的東西？究竟發生什麼事？為何遭到惡意遺棄？歷盡憂鬱絕望，現在的多崎作將展開一次有目的性的旅行。本書主要故事是一次旅程，一次人生之巡，巡視及尋回，並從中產生了衝擊性強烈的體悟。

　　「我們是這樣的活下來了。」繼續活著，成為責任。

　　《沒有色彩的多崎作和他的巡禮之年》是村上春樹第13部長篇小說，存在最稀薄的多崎作，將歷經最大的創痛，再沒有相稱的人物可以與之匹敵。再沒有更出萃的顏色，這部村上自比為《挪威的森林》的新作，完全落座在現實人生的因緣際遇，更加突顯描寫功力的非凡獨樹，一如既往，風靡世界文壇數十年的村上春樹，始終不曾令讀者書迷失望。本書將是他歷年小說創作中最豐富的收藏。

　　★本書中譯版《沒有色彩的多崎作和他的巡禮之年》由時報出版。

　　Colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage is about tsukuru tazaki, whose school life revolves around his four best friends: two boys called akamatsu and oumi and two girls called shirane and kurono. Co-incidentally, the meanings of all of their names were related to some colour or the other. The meanings of akamatsu and oumi were 'red pine' and 'blue sea' and the meanings of shirane and kurono were 'white root' and 'black field' respectively. Only tsukuru's name had no relation to colour. One fine day, all of a sudden, his friends made their decision clear to him that they don't want him in their group anymore. Tsukuru was totally taken aback and could not understand why they were doing this to him. Since then, he could never form a close bond with anyone who came into his life. Years later, his girlfriend, sara, suggested him to go and meet his friends and ask them the reason for abandoning him. Tsukuru then decided to dig out the truth. Find out if tsukuru is able to find out the true reason and mend his relation with his once best friends. Colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage is a book with elements of intrigue, mystery and magic-realism. The book is published by random house in 2014 and comes with hardcover binding. Key features: it has the elements of alienation, humour and magical-realism that are unique to a murakami novel.

作者簡介

村上春樹

　　一九四九年生於日本京都府。早稻田大學戲劇系畢業。

　　一九七九年以《聽風的歌》獲得「群像新人賞」，新穎的文風被譽為日本「八○年代文學旗手」，一九八七年暢銷七百萬冊的代表作《挪威的森林》出版，奠定村上在日本多年不墜的名聲，除了暢銷，也屢獲「野間文藝賞」、「谷崎潤一郎文學賞」等文壇肯定，三部曲《發條鳥年代記》更受到「讀賣文學賞」的高度肯定。除了暢銷，村上獨特的都市感及寫作風格也成了世界年輕人認同的標誌。

　　作品中譯本至今已有50幾本，包括長篇小說、短篇小說、散文及採訪報導等。

　　長篇小說有《聽風的歌》、《1973年的彈珠玩具》、《尋羊冒險記》、《世界末日與冷酷異境》、《挪威的森林》、《舞舞舞》、《國境之南、太陽之西》、《發條鳥年代記》三部曲、《人造衛星情人》、《海邊的卡夫卡》、《黑夜之後》、《1Q84 Book1》《1Q84 Book2》、《1Q84 Book3》等。

　　Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His books include Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and 1Q84. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages and he has received many honours, including the Franz Kafka Prize. His most recent novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, sold one million copies in its first week of publication in Japan.