Now and then, in this life, we are blessed to glimpse pure genius. That was the gift several thousand of us experienced last night at the Zellerbach Auditorium on the U-C, Berkeley campus. Haruki Murakami, who in my view, is the greatest living writer in the world, appeared to read and discuss his works.
He is an unassuming man, simple and direct. His stories also come unfiltered straight from his heart. They are universal in nature, if Japanese in particular. The gift of this writer is to transcend these cultural boundaries that divide us, one from the other, whilst tapping into a deeper level of our common humanity.
This, of course, is art. Our race, color, gender, age, political and/or sexual orientation issues are quite tiny compared to what we share in common. Murakami's stories move beyond all of that.
The man himself is as funny and deeply moving as any writer could ever hope to be. He is an international treasure. He belongs to all of us, one of Japan's true gifts to humanity.
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