小说共四十章，采用了村上春树招牌式的双线交织叙事模式。单数章节为“冷酷异境”，双数章节为“世界末日”。“冷酷异境”里的“我”是一位计算士，身处一座现代化的城市里，通过左右脑分开混洗的方式加密数据；“世界末日”里的“我”是一位“梦读”，住在一条与世隔绝的街上，在图书馆里阅读藏在独角兽头骨里的古梦。两个“我”看似毫不相干，本质上却是同一个人。“世界末日”里的“我”，是“冷酷异境”里的“我”在潜意识里想象出来的产物，是“戏剧密码”“意识之核”。“冷酷异境”里的“我”，为了逃离各方势力的围捕，一路狂奔，但终究逃不出即将消失殆尽的宿命，而与此同时，“世界末日”里的“我”，也在自身的分裂中、命运的岔路前，摇摆不定……

　　作者简介

　　村上春树

　　日本著名作家、翻译家。

　　1949年出生于京都市。毕业于早稻田大学第一文学部。1979年凭借首作《听风的歌》获得群像新人文学奖。主要长篇小说有《寻羊冒险记》（野间文艺新人奖)、《世界末日与冷酷异境》(谷崎润一郎奖)、《挪威的森林》、《国境之南、太阳之西》、《发条鸟年代记》(读卖文学奖)、《海边的卡夫卡》(世界幻想文学大奖、《纽约时报》2005年度好书Top 10)、《1Q84》(每日出版文化奖)、《刺杀骑士团长》等。短篇小说集有《遇见100%的女孩》《神的孩子都在跳舞》《东京奇谭集》《没有女人的男人们》等。随笔集有《村上收音机》、“村上朝日堂”系列、《爵士群像》等。游记有《远方的鼓声》《雨天炎天》《边境·近境》等。翻译过卡佛、塞林格、卡波蒂、菲茨杰拉德、麦卡勒斯等多位英美著名文学作家的作品。获得众多国际文学大奖，包括2006年弗朗茨·卡夫卡奖、弗兰克·奥康纳国际短篇小说奖，2009年耶路撒冷奖、西班牙艺术文学勋章，2011年加泰罗尼亚国际奖，2014年世界文学奖，2016年安徒生文学奖，2022年奇诺·德尔·杜卡世界奖等。

　　译者介绍

　　赖明珠

　　1947年生于台湾苗栗，中兴大学农经系毕业，日本千叶大学深造。回台湾从事广告企划撰文，喜欢文学、艺术、电影欣赏及旅行，并选择性翻译日文作品，包括村上春树的多本著作。

The novel consists of 40 chapters and adopts Haruki Murakami's signature two-line interweaving narrative mode. The singular chapter is "The Grim Land", and the even-numbered chapter is "The End of the world". The "me" in "Cold Wonderland" is a computer scientist who lives in a modern city and encrypts data by mixing and washing his left and right brains apart. The "I" in "The End of the World" is a "dream reader" who lives on an isolated street and reads ancient dreams hidden in unicorn skulls in a library. The two "I" s seem unrelated, but are essentially the same person. The "I" in the "End of the World" is the product of the "I" in the "Cold Wonderland" in the subconscious imagination, is the "drama code" "core of consciousness." The "me" in the "Cold Alien", in order to escape the encircling of all parties, runs all the way, but after all, it cannot escape the fate that is about to disappear, and at the same time, the "me" in the "end of the world" is also wavering in its own division and before the fork of fate...

About the author

Haruki Murakami

Famous Japanese writer and translator.

Born in Kyoto City in 1949. He graduated from the First Department of Literature, Waseda University. In 1979, he won the Group New Literary Prize for his first work, Songs of Listening to the Wind. His main novels are "The Adventure in Search of Sheep" (Noma Literary Newcomer Award), "The End of the World and the Grim Land" (Tanizaki Junichiro Award), "Norwegian Wood", "South of the Border, West of the Sun", "The Winework Bird" (Yomiuri Literature Award), "Kafka by the Sea" (World Fantasy Literature Award, the New York Times 2005 Book of the Year Top 10), "1Q84" (Daily Publishing Culture Award), "Assassinate Knight Commander" and so on. His short story collections include "Meet 100% Girls", "God's Children Are Dancing", "Tokyo Wonderland" and "Men Without Women". The collection of essays includes "Murakami Radio", "Murakami Asahi Do" series, "Jazz Group Portrait" and so on. Travel notes have "distant drum", "Rainy day", "Border · Near" and so on. He has translated the works of many famous British and American literary writers such as Carver, Salinger, Capotti, Fitzgerald and McCullers. He has received numerous international literary awards, including the 2006 Franz Kafka Prize, the Frank O 'Connor International Short Story Prize, the 2009 Jerusalem Prize, the Spanish Order of Arts and Letters, the 2011 Catalonia International Prize, the 2014 World Prize for Literature, the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Prize for Literature, and the 2022 Chino del Duca World Prize.

Translator's introduction

Lai Mingzhu

Born in Miaoli, Taiwan in 1947, he graduated from the Department of Agricultural Economics of Chung Hsing University and further studied in Chiba University, Japan. He returned to Taiwan to work as an advertising writer, enjoys literature, art, film appreciation and travel, and selectively translates Japanese works, including many books by Haruki Murakami.