The Sun Gods
Rubin's only novel and the natural starting point for his fiction.
Author guide
Jay Rubin Books in Order
Jay Rubin is an American scholar, translator, and writer who taught Japanese literature at the University of Washington and Harvard University. His scholarship focuses on modern Japanese literature, especially the work of Haruki Murakami and Natsume Soseki, as well as censorship and literary culture in the Meiji period. He is the author of studies of Japanese literature, a Japanese-language guide, and the historical novel The Sun Gods.
fictionliterary criticismJapanese literaturelanguage education
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words
The clearest introduction to Rubin's literary criticism and Murakami scholarship.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (5)
- Injurious to Public Morals: Writers and the Meiji State
nonfiction · 1984
- Making Sense of Japanese
nonfiction · 1998
- Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words
nonfiction · 2002
REVISED AND UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL ON AFTER DARK AND MURAKAMI'S FORTHCOMING WORKSAs a young man, Haruki Murakami played records and mixed drinks at his Tokyo Jazz club, Peter Cat, then wrote at the kitchen table until the sun came up.…
- The Sun Gods
novel · 2015
In 1939, a widowed minister with a young son falls in love with and marries a woman who is a recent immigrant from Japan. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, the family is soon torn apart by the impacts of war, racism, and religion.
- Murakami Haruki to watashi
nonfiction · 2016
Frequently asked questions about Jay Rubin
Who was Jay Rubin?
Jay Rubin was an American translator, writer, scholar, and Japanologist best known for translating modern Japanese literature, especially Haruki Murakami’s work, into English. He earned a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from the University of Chicago and became a Harvard professor emeritus.
Sources: rijs.fas.harvard.edu (opens in a new tab)dublinliteraryaward.ie (opens in a new tab)
When was Jay Rubin born, and where did he build his academic career?
Rubin was born on November 15, 1941. He taught at the University of Washington for eighteen years before serving as Takashima Professor of Japanese Humanities at Harvard University.
Sources: jsis.washington.edu (opens in a new tab)rijs.fas.harvard.edu (opens in a new tab)
What influenced Jay Rubin’s path into translation?
As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Rubin studied with scholar-translator Edwin McClellan and began translating Natsume Sōseki. His later scholarship connected translation with the study of Murakami, Sōseki, Meiji censorship, and Noh drama.
Sources: japantimes.co.jp (opens in a new tab)rijs.fas.harvard.edu (opens in a new tab)
What awards did Jay Rubin receive for his translation work?
His translation of Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle received the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Japanese Literary Translation Prize in 1999 and the Noma Award for the Translation of Japanese Literature in 2003.
What is Jay Rubin’s literary legacy?
Rubin is remembered as one of the principal English translators of Haruki Murakami and as an important link between modern Japanese literature and English-language readers. His legacy also includes influential academic work on Japanese literature and translation.
Sources: dublinliteraryaward.ie (opens in a new tab)rijs.fas.harvard.edu (opens in a new tab)