Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami dies aged 74

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 23 Oct, 14:58 · Archive

Ryu Murakami, a Japanese author known for subversive fiction exploring violence and sex, has died aged 74.

Ryu Murakami, the Japanese author and filmmaker, has died aged 74. He died on 17 October at home, according to his Japanese publisher Gentosha. Known as the 'enfant terrible' of contemporary Japanese literature, Murakami was celebrated for subversive, blackly comic novels that found millions of readers worldwide and explored the dark underbelly of Japanese society.

Murakami was born in 1952 in Sasebo, Nagasaki prefecture, the son of two teachers. He published his first novel, Almost Transparent Blue, in 1976 while still a student. The book won both the Gunzo prize for new writers and the Akutagawa prize, Japan's most prestigious literary award. It depicted the hedonistic lifestyle of disillusioned, nihilistic young people.

His works incorporated violence, explicit drug use and sex into stories that offered sharp-eyed critiques of Japanese and American culture. One of his most famous novels, Audition, was later adapted into a landmark indie horror film. Adam Freudenheim, publisher and managing director at Pushkin Press, which publishes Murakami's works in translation in the UK alongside Bloomsbury, said it had been 'a huge privilege to bring many of Ryu Murakami's strange, original and cinematic novels to an English-speaking audience'.

How it is being reported

• Ryu Murakami, cult Japanese author, dies aged 74The bestselling writer, known as Japan’s enfant terrible, explored the dark underbelly of Japanese society in more than 40 works of subversive fiction including Audition, later made into a landmark indie horror movie Ryu Murakami, the cult Japanese author and film-maker whose subversive, blackly comic novels found millions of readers, has died aged 74. He died on 17 October at home, according to his Japanese publisher Gentosha. Described as the enfant terrible of contemporary Japanese literature, Murakami incorporated violence, explicit drug use and sex into stories that offered a sharp-eyed…The Guardian · 23 Oct, 14:21
• Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami dies at 74Murakami's works, which explored sex, violence, and youth culture, were translated globally.The Japan Times · 23 Oct, 07:25

In this story: Ryu Murakami · Gentosha · Japan · Sasebo · Nagasaki · Pushkin Press · Bloomsbury

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