A Wild Sheep Chase
First US edition cover
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| Author | Haruki Murakami |
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| Original title |
Hitsuji o meguru bōken 羊をめぐる冒険 |
| Translator | Alfred Birnbaum |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Surreal novel, magical realism |
| Publisher | Kodansha International |
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Publication date
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October 15, 1982 |
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Published in English
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December 31, 1989 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 299 (US) 405 (JP) |
| ISBN | (US) (JP) |
| OCLC | 19670739 |
| 895.6/35 20 | |
| LC Class | PL856.U673 H5713 1989 |
| Preceded by | Pinball, 1973 |
| Followed by | Dance Dance Dance |
A Wild Sheep Chase (羊をめぐる冒険 Hitsuji o meguru bōken?) (literally An Adventure Surrounding Sheep) is the third novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. First published in Japan in 1982, it was translated into English in 1989. It is an independent sequel to Pinball, 1973, and the third book in the so-called "Trilogy of the Rat". It won the 1982 Noma Literary Newcomer's Prize.
In A Wild Sheep Chase, Murakami blends elements of American and English literature with Japanese contexts, exploring post-WWII Japanese cultural identity. The book is part mystery and part magical realism with a postmodern twist.
A Wild Sheep Chase has been defined as a parody or a renewal of Yukio Mishima's Natsuko no Bōken (夏子の冒険?, Natsuko's Adventure).
This quasi-detective tale follows an unnamed, chain-smoking narrator and his adventures in Tokyo and Hokkaido in 1978. The story begins when the recently divorced protagonist, an advertisement executive, publishes a photo of a pastoral scene sent to him in a confessional letter by his long lost friend, 'The Rat.' He is contacted by a mysterious man representing 'The Boss,' a central force behind Japan's political and economic elite who is now slowly dying. The Boss' secretary tells him that a strange sheep with a star shaped birthmark, pictured in the advertisement, was in some way the secret source of the Boss' power and that he has two months to find that sheep or his career and life will be ruined. The narrator and his girlfriend, who possesses magically seductive and supernaturally perceptive ears, travel to the north of Japan to find that sheep and his vagabond friend. As he discovers that he is chasing an unknowable power that has been exerting its influence for decades, he encounters figures from his own past, unusual characters, and those who have encountered the sheep before.
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