“Now a narrative is a story, not logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize it or not. Just as surely as you breathe, you go on ceaselessly dreaming your story. And in these stories you wear two faces. You are simultaneously subject and object. You are the whole and you are a part. You are real and you are shadow. ‘Storyteller’ and at the same time ‘character.’ It is through such multilayering of roles in our stories that we heal the loneliness of being an isolated individual in the world.” (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)

If like me you are a Murakami cultist, check out this excellent Esquire article about the author.