The Elephant Vanishes: Stories

The Elephant Vanishes (1991) is the first collection of short stories published by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The stories were written between 1980 and 1991, and many had already been published in periodicals before the collection was published. At the time the collection was published, Murakami had already written a few successful novels, and he remains active as a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. The short story collection was highly praised after its release and received attention internationally. Like other works by Murakami, the short stories incorporate elements of surrealism and magical realism and address themes such as Existential Anxiety in the Modern World, Perception Versus Reality, and Internality and Social Relationships.

This guide refers to the 1993 translation by Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin, published by Knopf.

Content Warning: Murakami’s stories address issues such as addiction, death by suicide, and pedophilia.

Plot Summaries

There are 17 stories in The Elephant Vanishes, each using surrealism to reflect on aspects of human life such as pain, regret, and loss.

In the first story, “The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday’s Women,” the narrator is an unemployed stay-at-home husband who is unsure what he wants to do with his life.