Haruki Murakami and the Ethereal Worlds

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ard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a novel written by Haruki Murakami, published in1985. The same year it was awarded the Tanizaki Prize.  The English language translation by Alfred Birnbaum was published in 1991.

The novel is divided into two parallel narratives.  One is Hard-Boiled Wonderland. The narrated is an unnamed man whose job is a Calcutec, a person who is a human data processor and human encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. He is hired by a reclusive scientist, The Professor (who lives in the sewer system of Japan) to encrypt (or shuffle) data concerning his experiments. During the course of engagement with the Professor, he is approached by Semiotecs, whose role is to steal the encrypted data

The other universe is The End of the World, a fantasy-like world called The Town. The narrator of this parallel, also unnamed, is a new arrival to The Town who is employed as a “dream reader.” The narrator, as part of his living there, has no conscience, no concrete memories of anything from before his arrival.  The first action taken towards him by the powers that be is that his shadow is removed.  The shadow eventually ceases to exist, leaving the narrator a full citizen of The Town

I have read three other Murakami books and from these I have become an avid fan.  His fiction has been described by many as Kafkaesque, much like fellow Japanese author Kobo Abe.  Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World is definitely that. The narrator, as well as the other characters, have no names and are referred to only as their vocation or a description. 

As far as being a parallel story, well, yes it is that.  At first.  Eventually, the two separate story lines begin to converge.  Despite this, the ending was not quite what I expected.
Part Cyberpunk (Wonderland) and part Fantasy (The End of the World) I can only say good things about this book.  I look forward to reading all of Murakami’s novels. So far he has written fourteen novels and five collections of short stories.  In November, an English translation of his newest novel, The City and its Uncertain Walls will be released.  I have already pre-ordered it.