Men Without Women

In spring 2013, Haruki Murakami composed the story "The Convert" which is included in the book as a prologue. After that, the author felt inspired and eager to write a collection of stories titled "Men Without Women", in which the title itself encapsulates the motive and key idea of all the novellas: the main characters are men, those who have been left by women for various reasons, those who have lost the love of their lives or have not achieved it. Professor Mitsuyoshi Numano from Tokyo University wrote about the collection: "After reading, a bluesy melancholy lingers in the subconscious from the impossibility for women and men, even the closest ones, to truly understand each other's souls. Modern people, having lost faith in gods and their own purpose, have developed what is called the 'organ of loneliness,' which helps them to lie even to those they love with all their heart, and they simply can no longer get rid of this product of spiritual mutation."