밤의 거미원숭이

I just finished reading 밤의 거미원숭이 by Haruki Murakami. It's an early collection of stories. In the epilogue the author himself says, that he wouldn't call it short stories in the traditional way. They are short and they are stories, but they reminded me of colorful pictures or little episodes you would tell your friends. Some of them are like dreams. Those are the ones I actually liked best.

You know how you wake up in the middle of the night, bedazzled by the vividness of a dream. You switch on the lights, grab a pen and paper and scribble down the snippets of what you've just seen with your eyes closed. You write and write, almost as fast as you think, because you don't want to miss any details and the thoughts just sprudel up in no order. You don't care about the lines and the readability of your writing, all that counts is to get your thoughts and feelings on paper.

With every word and every image jotted down, you're picturing the dream. And as soon as it's there, in black and white, you allow the memory to drift away. That's a bit what the stories in 밤의 거미원숭이 reminded me of. Not all of the little Geschichten made sense to me, and not all of them I enjoyed like crazy, but I think they all are wonderful pieces full of imagination.