latest Murakami

I have never really liked short stories. Most people who love reading as much as I do, don't like short stories - they are too, short!

But really, I had felt all along that short stories were more of an effort to show off literarily, rather than to expound on life and philosophy through beautiful language. It feels like a shortcut to actual writing; much like blogging. The easy answer out. Great for speedy English improvement if you have an English examination coming up. O' Henry's shorties did it for me nearing my O level exams.

My opinion about short stories changes with the introduction to Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.

Murakami opines in his introduction to the book, that he enjoys writing short stories. (Thanks for the book, Kel)! A short story begins with, what I call a 'traffic-light moment', what he calls 'the smallest details'. His short stories paved the way for the novels he has written. Perhaps without the short stories, there would never be any Norwegian Wood, no Murakami as he is today.

Which makes me wonder if After Dark was originally meant to be a short story, a little bit mistakenly expanded into the length of a novel.

Now I think I will pick up the shorties in his collection to read, that I haven't already.

And in fact, re-think the traffic light moments in my life, and think about the beauty of the short story in every one of them. Blogging and the like really isn't that lowly a writing activity after all.