Book Reviews (マイブック評)

騎士団長殺し 第一部・第二部 村上春樹 Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

May 7, 2021

大長編、2部作。腰を降ろして臨まないと、読み切れないかもしれないですよ。第一部「顕れるイデア編」に続き、第二部の「遷ろうメタフォー編」。時に、ハリーポッター風の冒険談にもなり、超恋愛小説にもなり、哲学書にもなる。でも、語り方は、一貫して村上春樹調。読者の私は、大破に呑まれながらも、行き先を失わずに最後までたどり着いたのです。要約するのはとても難しい小説でしょうね。逆に言えば、パンデミックの中、現実というものの儚さを実感し、この小説に共感を得た部分がある事も、事実。主人公の「私」が、小田原近郊の隠れ屋風の家で過ごした数ヶ月の、夢とも、現実ともつかない日々の回想録。そして、輪廻の如く、再び現実に戻り、小田原以前の暮らしに戻るまでの日々。最後に辿り着くと、「ええー、こんな終わりで良いの??」と自問してしまいがちだが、人生というものは、そういうものなのだろう。メタフォーもイデアも遠くに置き去りにして・・

Large feature, it is a two-part work. If you don’t have a strong will, you may not be able to read it through. I read this book in an original language, Japanese. Following the first part, “Appearing Ideas,” the second part, “Transitional Metaphor.” Sometimes it’s a Harry Potter-style adventure story, a super-romance novel, and a philosophical book. However, the way of speaking is consistently Haruki Murakami style. As a reader, I was swallowed by the wreck, but I arrived at the end without losing my destination. It’s a very difficult novel to summarize. To put it the other way around, it is a fact that in the pandemic, I realized the ephemeral nature of reality, and I got empathy with this novel. It is a memoir of the days when the main character, “I”, spent several months in a hideaway-style house near Odawara. He constantly lived with vague ideas of dreams and reality. He was alone, most of part. There is never a clear line between reality and fantasy. That is actually a very realistic fact! And, like reincarnation, “I” returned to the reality which he had in Tokyo before Odawara life. When I got to the end, I asked myself, “Well, is this the end?”, But that may be what life is all about. Leave the metaphor and the idea in the distance …