The internationally acclaimed novelist Haruki Murakami, who recently translated the 1940 American classic "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," by Carson McCullers, recently spoke about the book's meaning to him, as well as the import of its message about racism and poverty against the backdrop of recent social protests.
"Her acute power of observation and brilliant writing makes her a true genius," Murakami, 71, said of McCullers, who wrote it as her debut novel when she was 23 years old, during an interview with Kyodo News.
McCullers, born in 1917 in the southern state of Georgia in the United States, had initially sought to become a pianist but later turned to writing, learning her craft while working at other jobs.