Via I'm pointed to Yoon Sang-In's piece in the Asahi Shimbun, which looks in some depth at how Haruki Murakami forms community of 'coolness' in South Korea, as the Japanese author enjoys enormous popularity there.
Apparently the timing was just right when Murakami's books began appearing there in the late 1980s:
Apparently the timing was just right when Murakami's books began appearing there in the late 1980s:
For decades, many South Koreans had been sick and tired of their country's novels, which tended to harp on serious, weighty themes about history, war and ideology. These South Korean readers were quickly enamored with Murakami's urbane, stylish romance fictions, which didn't contain a drop of history or ideology. They deeply sympathized with the dry and cool styles of love he depicted. They also supported the writer's snub to the hypocritical posture of writers who pretended to detest capitalism.Always interesting to hear how some authors achieve great popularity in specific countries and cultures -- see also the example of David Vann, profiled in Clare Swanson's An Author Ponders Success Abroad, Struggles In the U.S., in Publishers Weekly (via).