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after the quake (神の子どもたちはみな踊る Kami no Kodomo-tachi wa Mina Odoru)
A collection of six short stories written between 1999 and 2000.
First published in Japan in 2000.
Translated into English by Jay Rubin in 2002.
“A fanciful collection of short stories that seldom touch upon the Kobe earthquake directly but deal more with the post-traumatic stress, and in some cases the pretraumatic stress, of a nation that lives in constant threat of natural disasters.” Mathew Carl Strecher, The Forbidden Worlds of Haruki Murakami
Book description:
Set at the time of the catastrophic 1995 Kobe earthquake, the mesmerizing stories in After the Quake are as haunting as dreams and as potent as oracles.
An electronics salesman who has been deserted by his wife agrees to deliver an enigmatic package— and is rewarded with a glimpse of his true nature. A man who views himself as the son of God pursues a stranger who may be his human father. A mild-mannered collection agent receives a visit from a giant talking frog who enlists his help in saving Tokyo from destruction. The six stories in this collection come from the deep and mysterious place where the human meets the inhuman—and are further proof that Murakami is one of the most visionary writers at work today.