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Natsume Soseki
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was the pen name of , who is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). He is commonly referred to as Soseki. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note.
as Natsume Kinnosuke in the town of Babashita in the Edo region of Ushigome (present Kikui, Shinjuku), Soseki began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life.
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was the pen name of , who is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). He is commonly referred to as Soseki. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note.
Early years
Born as Natsume Kinnosuke in the town of Babashita in the Edo region of Ushigome (present Kikui, Shinjuku), Soseki began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life. His parents foisted him off on a former household servant (Shiobara Masanosuke) and his wife, by whom he was brought up until the age of nine. He returned to his household and was welcomed by his mother although regarded as a nuisance by his father. His mother died when he was fourteen, and his two eldest brothers in 1887, intensifying his sense of insecurity.
Soseki attended the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School), where he became enamored with Chinese literature, and fancied that he might someday become a writer. However, his family disapproved strongly of this course of action, and when Soseki entered the Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) in September 1884, it was with the intention of becoming an architect. He began studying English at that time, feeling that it might prove useful to him in his future career.
In 1887, Soseki met Masaoka Shiki, a friend who would give him encouragement on the path to becoming a writer, which would ultimately be his career. Shiki tutored him in the art of composing haiku. From this point on, Soseki began signing his poems with the name Soseki, which is a Chinese idiom meaning "stubborn". In 1890, Soseki entered the English Literature department, and quickly became a master of the English language. Soseki graduated in 1893, and enrolled for some time as a graduate student and part-time teacher at the Tokyo Normal School.
Soseki began teaching at Matsuyama Middle School in Shikoku, in 1895, which is the setting of his novel Botchan. Along with fulfilling his teaching duties, Soseki published haiku and Chinese poetry in a number of newspapers and periodicals. He resigned his post, in 1896, and began teaching at the Fifth High School in Kumamoto. On June 10 of that year, he married Nakane Kyoko.
Soseki in the United Kingdom, 1901-1903
In 1900, the Japanese government sent Soseki to study in Great Britain. He visited Cambridge and stayed a night there, but gave up the idea of studying at the university because he could not afford it on his government scholarship. He had a miserable time of it in London, spending most of his days indoors buried in books, and his friends feared that he might be losing his mind. He also visited Pitlochry in Scotland.
He lived in four different lodgings. Nevertheless, despite his poverty and loneliness, he solidified his knowledge of English literature and returned to Japan in 1903. Five years later, in his preface to Bungakuron (The Criticism of Literature), he wrote about the period:
- The two years I spent in London were the most unpleasant years in my life. Among English gentlemen I lived in misery, like a poor dog that had strayed among a pack of wolves.
In 1984, Sammy I. Tsunematsu opened the Soseki Museum at 80b, The Chase, London SW4 0NG.
After his return to the Empire of Japan, he replaced Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) at the First Higher School, and subsequently became a professor of English literature at Tokyo Imperial University, where he taught literary theory and literary criticism.
Literary career
Soseki's literary career began in 1903, when he began to contribute haiku, renku (haiku-style linked verse), haitaishi (linked verse on a set theme) and literary sketches to literary magazines, such as the prominent Hototogisu, edited by his former mentor Masaoka Shiki, and later by Takahama Kyoshi. However, it was the public success of his short story Wagahai wa neko de aru ("I Am a Cat") in 1905 that won him wide public admiration as well as critical acclaim.
He followed on this success with short stories, such as Rondon tô ("Tower of London") in 1905 and the novels Botchan ("Little Master"), and Kusamakura ("Grass Pillow") in 1906, which established his reputation, and which enabled him to leave his post at the university for a position with Asahi Shimbun in 1907, and to begin writing full-time. Much of his work deals with the relation between Japanese culture and Western culture. Especially his early works are influenced by his studies in London; his novel Kairo-ko was the earliest and only major prose treatment of the Arthurian legend in Japanese. He began writing one novel a year until his death from a stomach ulcer in 1916.
Major themes in Soseki's works include ordinary people fighting against economic hardship, the conflict between duty and desire, loyalty and group mentality versus freedom and individuality, personal isolation and estrangement, the rapid industrialization of Japan and its social consequences, contempt of Japan's aping of Western culture, and a pessimistic view of human nature. Soseki took a strong interest in the writers of the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group. In his final years, authors such as Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Kume Masao became close followers of his literary style.
Major works
Soseki's major works include:
| Year | Japanese Title | English Title | Comments |
|---|
| 1905 | ??????? Wagahai wa Neko dearu | I Am a Cat | | | ??? Rondon Tou | The Tower of London | | | ??? Kairo-ko | Kairo-ko | | | 1906 | ????? Botchan | Botchan | | | ?? Kusamakura | The Three-Cornered World/Kusamakura | latest translation uses original Japanese title | | ????? Syumi no Iden | The Heredity of Taste | | | ???? Nihyaku-jyu nichi | The 210th Day | | | 1907 | ???? Gubijinsô | The Poppy | | | 1908 | ?? Kohu | The Miner | | | ??? Yume Jyu-ya | Ten Nights of Dreams | | | ??? Sanshiro | Sanshiro | | | 1909 | ???? Sorekara | And Then | | | 1910 | ? Mon | The Gate | | | ??????? Omoidasu Koto nado | Spring Miscellany | | | 1912 | ???? Higan Sugi Made | To the Spring Equinox and Beyond | | | ?? Kojin | The Wayfarer (Kojin) | | | 1914 | ??? Kokoro | Kokoro | | | ?????? Watakushi no Kojin Shugi | My Individualism | A famous speech | | 1915 | ?? Michi Kusa | Grass on the Wayside | | | ????? Garasu Do no Uchi | Inside My Glass Doors | English translation, 2002 | | 1916 | ?? Mei An | Light and Darkness | Unfinished | |
See also
Sources
- Bargen, Doris D. Suicidal Honor: General Nogi and the Writings of Mori Ogai and Natsume Soseki. University of Hawaii Press (2006). ISBN 0824829980
- Doi,Takeo. The Psychological World of Natsume Soseki. Harvard University Asia Center (1976). ISBN 0674721160
- Gessel, Van C. Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata. Kodansha International, 1993
- Keene, Donald. Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era: Fiction, Chapter 12. 2nd Revised Edition, Columbia University Press, 1998.
- Milward, Peter. The Heart of Natsume Soseki: First Impressions of His Novels. Azuma Shobo (1981). ASIN: B000IK2690
- Olson, Lawrence. Ambivalent Moderns: Portraits of Japanese Cultural Identity. Savage, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield (1992). ISBN 0847677397
- Ridgeway, William N. A Critical Study of The Novels of Natsume Soseki, 1867-1916. Edwin Mellen Press (January 28, 2005). ISBN 0773462309
- Yu, Beongchoeon. Natsume Soseki. Macmillan Publishing Company (1984). ISBN 0805728503
External links
- at , the website of Kamakura City
- including links to the entire text of Kokoro
- (complete texts with furigana)
- Tohoku University:
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