Spring rain:
a walk amid
wet willows.
“Spring Rain” by Natsume Sōseki
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Tag Archives: Natsume Sōseki
BOOKS: “Kokoro” by Natsume Sōseki
Kokoro by Natsume SōsekiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Pushkin Press
I first read this many years ago in college for a course on Japanese culture. I didn’t have a good reading experience then because this novel is too quiet to hold the concentration of a fidgety mind. However, on rereading it, I found it to be an intense and moving reading experience. It’s a brutally realistic piece of literary fiction, featuring quiet and unexpressive characters who are never-the-less experiencing a kind of agony of living.
The book’s beginning revolves around the relationship between a young man just finishing college and an older, somewhat hermetic, man. By “relationship” I’m not talking about a sexual or otherwise intimate interaction. This strange relationship might best be made sense of by the fact that the young man calls the older, “Sensei” (i.e. “teacher.”) So, it is largely an informal mentor-mentee relationship, but the reader may not really understand why “Sensei” is a reasonable honorific for the old man until the end. The latter portion of the book is Sensei’s “confession,” or the telling of formative events of his life. It is in this confession that we learn that Sensei is not so much a teacher by virtue of conveying abstract scholarly information but rather he teaches by showing the young man his own life story as a cautionary tale.
You must be in a quiet state of mind to keep attuned to this book, but – if you can do so – it is well worth reading. I’d highly recommend it for readers of literary fiction.
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BOOK REVIEW: The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Sōseki
The Three-Cornered World by Natsume SōsekiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
This novel was originally entitled Kusamakura or “Grass Pillow,” and it’s the Alan Turney translation that bears the title The Three-Cornered World. Turney drew from a concept that Natsume presents in the book – i.e. that an artist lives in the triangle created by the collapse of a corner called common sense. It’s a poetic and philosophical novel that is very much character-centric. In other words, if you must have an intriguing story, this book is not so much for you. However, if you find ideas and clever use of language appealing, you’ll love it.
The premise is that an artist takes retreat in the mountain countryside, and becomes infatuated with a local woman with a storied past. As the book tells us of the artist’s experience, it discusses aesthetics, the philosophy of art, and the place of emotion in artistic experience. This book is often compared to Bashō’s travelogue (i.e. Narrow Road to the Deep North) as it involves a great deal of elegant imagery and the occasional interspersed poem.
While the book is light on story, I was wowed by the author’s thought process and his use of language. While I’ve never read the original in Japanese, Turney’s translation is beautiful writing in its own right and I suspect it captures the sparse beauty for which Natsume’s work is famed. It is definitely worth reading.
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