What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

　　寫作滿三十年前夕

　　村上春樹透過談跑步  道出自己不為人所知的寫作觀

　　25年前村上春樹開始他的第一次跑步，那是1982年的秋天，三十三歲那一年，寫完《尋羊冒險記》，村上先生因為戒菸而體重增加，為了減肥，開始了他的第一步。從那以後村上接連不斷地跑，他曾經跑完雅典的全程馬拉松，也參加波士頓馬拉松比賽，平日每天幾乎都跑上十公里，可以說除了寫作，跑步已經是他最在行的事。

　　村上在這本書《關於跑步，我說的其實是……》中藉著記錄整理自己的經驗與思緒，分享他在跑步中所理解的人生以及寫作觀。至於書名是什麼意思？其實這本書的日文原名就是以外來語思維所寫的（What I Talk About When I Talk About Running），這個名稱明顯是向他喜愛的美國小說家瑞蒙．卡佛名作之一《當我們討論愛情》（What We Talk About When We Talk About Love）致敬。

　　村上說如果他可以選擇自己的墓誌銘，猜猜看他想寫上什麼？答案就在書裡。

　　In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a slew of critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing. Equal parts travelogue, training log, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvellous lens of sport emerges a cornucopia of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revealing, both for fans of this masterful yet private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in distance running.

作者簡介

村上春樹

　　一九四九年生於日本兵庫縣，日本早稻田大學戲劇系畢業。一九七九年以《聽風的歌》獲得「群像新人賞」，新穎的文風被譽為日本「八○ 年代文學旗手」，一九 八七年暢銷七百萬冊的代表作《挪威的森林》出版，奠定村上在日本多年不墜的名聲，除了暢銷，也屢獲「野間文藝賞」、「谷崎潤一郎文學 賞」等文壇肯定，三部 曲《發條鳥年代記》更受到「讀賣文學賞」的高度肯定。除了暢銷，村上獨特的都市感及寫作風格也成了世界年輕人認同的標誌。作品中譯本 至《1Q84》今已有 50本。

　　Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His books include Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and 1Q84. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages and he has received many honours, including the Franz Kafka Prize. His most recent novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, sold one million copies in its first week of publication in Japan.