I listened to Janacek’s sinfonietta on the radio. The anchor commented that two different recordings of the same music provide the soundtrack to Murakami’s novel, 1Q84. I downloaded the music, and the book. Janacek’s sinfonietta marks the boundary between the real and unreal, the profane and sacred.
Around the same time, I listened to a learned discussion on the writing of Anton Chekhov. In 1890, the ill young man made a three month journey from Moscow across Siberia to the penal colony of Sakhalin Island. After listening, I have begun to work my way through his stories. As it turned out, Chekhov’s narrative power is another thread running through the tapestry of 1Q84
According to Chekhov, says a character in 1Q84, once a gun appears in a story, it has to be fired.
