Photo/Illutration Sayaka Murata, left, and Ryo Asai take the podium at the Waseda International House of Literature in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on Dec. 18. (Provided by Waseda University)

Editor’s Note: This article concludes a series on “Authors Alive!” book-reading and other events to mark the opening of the Waseda International House of Literature known as the Haruki Murakami Library.

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Although they have had mutual interactions, Sayaka Murata and Ryo Asai have never heard each other read their respective novels aloud. 

So, the authors seemed to enjoy analyzing each other’s mastery of the spoken word in front of an audience on Dec. 18 at the Waseda International House of Literature in Tokyo.

“You spoke in a milder voice than you usually do,” Murata said after Asai recited the opening part of his “Seiyoku” (Righteous/sexual desire). “Your voice was beautiful, like a gentle drizzle.”

Murata read passages she chose from “Convenience Store Woman” and “Earthlings.”

“You spoke louder than you usually do,” Asai said. “Perhaps our voices come in concert with the works that we read aloud.”

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The logo of the “Authors Alive!” events (Provided by Waseda University)

The event was the sixth one in a series of public sessions titled “Authors Alive!” to mark the Oct. 1 opening of the institution, more commonly known as the Haruki Murakami Library, which stands on Waseda University’s main campus in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward.

Robert Campbell, a specially appointed professor of Japanese literature with Waseda University, read aloud passages from the English editions of Murata’s novels translated by Ginny Takemori. Campbell served as an interviewer at the session.

“I think a distinctive feature of your novels is that the emotions of the main characters are not explained,” Asai said of Murata’s works. “I had the impression that the English editions convey more emotions.”

Murata’s “Convenience Store Woman” and “Earthlings” have been translated and published overseas.

Asai said he tends to go to excess in expressing emotions in his novels.

“I don’t believe in my own perspective, so I am captive to the world views of my main characters,” Murata said.

“People have different world views in accordance with what information they have. I am interested in the workings of the ‘lenses’ of that sort.”

Asai read a scene from “Seiyoku” where a man and a woman who are not romantically involved imitate a sexual act with their clothes on.

“The two were reproaching themselves for failing to do what everyone else can,” Asai said. “The scene represents a moment when they hit upon the idea that they can continue reflecting on the matter exactly because they cannot do it.

“I reached that point of reversal after writing 300 pages or so into the book, but your works start precisely from there.”

“That scene was impressive,” Murata replied. “The characters pretend to be performing a sexual act, but that did not offer readers a single drop of sexuality. To reach that point, I think you needed language of the kind that falls on and accumulates on readers.”

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Sayaka Murata’s “Convenience Store Woman” and “Earthlings” are published in different languages, including English, Hebrew and Lithuanian, and with different cover designs. (Mariko Nakamura)

Murata and Asai both write about how individuals feel at odds with society, but their mutual dialogue showed their different approaches to that end.

It was a luxurious session attended by less than 20 people, including Waseda University students and others who had applied for the event.

“The fun of listening to a public reading has mediated the birth of conversations and many other things,” Campbell said.

Although the event was the last of the scheduled sessions, Campbell said in a concluding remark that the series of events will continue into 2022.

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