Thanks, John, for pointing me to this article about translations by Wendy Lesser. Among other thing, it compares Alfred Birnbaum's translations of Haruki Murakami with Jay Rubin's versions. Here's Jay Rubin's version of the beginning of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which is also the first story in The Elephant Vanishes:

When the phone rang, I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's 'The Thieving Magpie', which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta.

I wanted to ignore the phone, not only because the spaghetti was nearly done, but because Claudio Abbado was bringing the London Symphony to its musical climax.

And here's Alfred Birnbaum's version:

I'm in the kitchen cooking spaghetti when the woman calls. Another moment until the spaghetti is done; there I am, whistling the prelude to Rossini's 'La Gazza Ladra' along with the FM radio. Perfect spaghetti-cooking music.

I hear the telephone ring but tell myself, Ignore it. Let the spaghetti finish cooking. It's almost done, and besides, Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra are coming to a crescendo.

Which do you prefer? John and I have talked before about Murakami's language and wondered how much is determined by the translator. It's interesting to have parallel texts to compare. Like Wendy Lesser, I prefer Birnbaum but I'm not sure it's for the same reasons as her.

btw, if you haven't read any of Haruki Murakami's work, you should. The Elephant Vanishes is a good place to start (it's where I started after John gave me a copy).

B-)