Description Haruki Murakami's first new novel in six years — Korean edition Ranked #1 overall bestseller immediately upon pre-order Haruki Murakami's new novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, will be released on September 6. This long-awaited full-length novel, his first in six years, caused such a stir upon its original release that major bookstores were overwhelmed by lines of readers eager to buy the book and by intense media coverage. Within two months it rose to the top of the first-half bestseller rankings, proving that readers' love and admiration for the master storyteller remain as strong as ever. The response to the Korean edition, which began pre-orders on August 28, has been just as enthusiastic. It immediately topped the real-time bestseller charts at Korea's three major online bookstores — Kyobo Book Centre, Aladin, and Yes24 — and has remarkably held the #1 spot on the overall bestseller list throughout the entire pre-order period. Compared to his previous novel, Killing Commendatore, this book surpassed that title's three-day sales total in a single day. Buoyed by this passionate reader response, Munhakdongne hastily decided to reprint during the pre-order period, and as of September 4 is already preparing its third printing. There is no one who does not carry a secret in their heart. "The place where I truly live is inside that city surrounded by high walls." A seventeen-year-old boy, "I," and a sixteen-year-old girl, "you." The two meet at a high school essay contest and fall for each other. Then one day, the girl says something mysterious: "The place where I truly live is inside that city surrounded by high walls. The me that's here right now isn't the real me. I'm just something like a passing shadow." Bewildered, "I" is soon drawn into the story of the city she describes. As the days pass and he carefully records the details of the city she describes, the girl suddenly disappears. Unable to tell whether it was an accident or some kind of sign, "I" suffers through a long wait before finally setting off for the unknown city the girl once spoke of. The city she described is surrounded by solid, towering stone walls. The clocks there have no hands, yet people can naturally sense the passage of time. The city has a single library, where the shelves hold not books but people's dreams, lined up in the shape of eggs. Managing these dreams and deciphering their contents is one of the city's most important duties. The city has only one gate, guarded by an imposing Gatekeeper, so not just anyone may come and go. To enter the city, there is one special condition: one must give up one's own "shadow." "I" gives up his shadow and enters the city, taking a position at the library as a "Dream Reader." He is reunited with the girl he has longed for, but for some reason, she does not recognize him. I had lost my shadow. (...) The Gatekeeper said, "Once it's actually gone, it looks pretty strange, doesn't it. You'll wonder why you ever cherished such a thing." I gave a vague reply. I still hadn't quite grasped the fact that I had lost my shadow. "A shadow really isn't good for anything at all," the Gatekeeper continued. "Can you recall a single time your shadow was ever of any great help to you?" I couldn't recall such a thing. At least, nothing came to mind right away. (p. 66) You carefully wipe the white dust that has settled over an old dream with a large white cloth, then place it on the desk before me. I take off my dark green glasses and rest both hands on the surface of the old dream. I cup it in my palms. After about five minutes, the old dream gradually awakens from its deep sleep, and its surface begins to glow faintly. A comfortable, natural warmth spreads through my palms. Then they begin to spin their dream. Like a silkworm spinning thread, hesitant at first, and then gradually gathering fitting fervor. They have a story that must be told. They must have waited patiently on the shelf for the time to come when they could step outside their shell. (p. 48) Self and world, truth and fiction, secrets and sharing, separation and connection… A message for an age that must keep going even as it faces countless boundaries As the years pass, "I" gradually becomes middle-aged. He leaves behind his long career in publishing and distribution to work as the new head librarian of a small library in a mountain town. There, he leads a peaceful life, forming bonds with the former head librarian, Koyasu; the librarian Soeda; and "M," a boy who visits the library every day wearing a shirt printed with a yellow submarine and reads books at an astonishing pace. One day, a mysterious secret about Koyasu comes to light, and M goes missing, leaving "I" confused at the boundary between reality and unreality. Living as though adrift between the "quiet mountain library" and the "city surrounded by walls," "I" senses that this way of living, too, must come to an end. At the boundary where seeking a single, clear truth or phenomenon becomes meaningless, where human faith is endlessly tested, what choice will "I" ultimately make? What is real, and what is not? Or rather — does a wall that truly divides reality from unreality even exist in this world? The wall may exist, I think. No — surely it exists. But it is, to the very end, an uncertain wall. Depending on the circumstances, depending on the person, it changes its solidity and shifts its shape. As though it were a living creature. (p. 684) What is a novel in an age of plague and war? A meaningful "completion" and a new "beginning" for author Haruki Murakami On April 27, 2023, Haruki Murakami gave a lecture titled "Writing Fiction in an Age of Plague and War" at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, USA. Speaking about how the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have built walls of wariness between people, and how the task of tearing down those walls to pursue values of justice and freedom has today been left to individual choice, he stated that The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a work that resonates with our current age. The City and Its Uncertain Walls brings together, more intricately than ever, the elements indispensable to Murakami's fictional world — love, shadows, libraries, the Beatles, classical music, and jazz. It is another magnificent blossoming from the seeds of a world he has spent more than forty years cultivating. Murakami has long been regarded as a writer who focuses primarily on the inner lives of individuals. He has spoken of his belief that fiction is "something written with the heart," "a way of bridging the gap between the heart and logical consciousness," and "a way of saving what logic alone cannot save." In this new work, Murakami showcases the singular world he has built over the years while also emphasizing themes of "succession" and "the generations to come." It offers readers a glimpse of what may lie ahead for this master storyteller with such a firmly established body of work. Listening to the wall's laughter, I did not raise my head but ran straight ahead, charging toward the wall that awaited me. Having come this far, there was nothing to do but believe the shadow's words. I must not be afraid. I summoned all my strength, cast aside my doubts, and believed in my own heart. (p. 206) The City and Its Uncertain Walls represents a meaningful harvest of Haruki Murakami's life and work as a writer — a completion, a knot tied, and at the same time another beginning that makes us look forward to what comes next. This novel, which offers an even more mature encounter with Murakami's imagination as it moves freely between reality and unreality, will stand as "the definitive work that distills the Murakami universe" for fans who have long awaited his new novel, and as "the perfect introduction to the world of Haruki Murakami" for readers just now discovering this author.