Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Japanese 世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド; Sekai no owari to Hādo-Boirudo Wandārando, literally The End of the World & Hard-Boiled Wonderland) is a 1985 novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. The English translation by Alfred Birnbaum was released in 1991. A strange and dreamlike novel, its chapters alternate between two bizarre narratives — "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" (a cyberpunk-like, science-fiction part) and "The End of the World" (a virtual fantasy-like, surreal part). The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters take place in the 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland', although the phrase is not used anywhere in the text, only in page headers. The narrator is a "Calcutec", a human data processor/encryption system who has been trained to use his subconscious as an encryption key. The Calcutecs work for the quasi-governmental System, as opposed to the criminal "Semiotecs" who work fo...