An Introduction to the Later Novels of Natsume Soseki
1964; Sophia University; Volume: 19; Issue: 1/2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2383282
ISSN1880-1390
Autores Tópico(s)Japanese History and Culture
ResumoThe greatness of Natsume S6sekia is perceived today not only by Japanese intellectuals and scholars but by the Japanese people in general. He is the most widely read and loved of Japanese authors. It is a fact, nevertheless, that he is read for a variety of reasons, some of which would undoubtedly appall S6seki if he were alive. The average Japanese who has enjoyed the rather picaresque experiences of a Botchan, or laughed at the impudent cat's caricature of his master, Kushami Sensei, or who has even seen himself in the youthful Sanshir6 and his relations with Mineko, and who has stopped in his reading at that point, has read S6seki on a very low level indeed. This does not mean that the Edokko spirit of Botchan, or the mirth of Wagahai wa neko de arub (I Am a Cat), or the youthful struggles and first experience of love of a Sanshir6 are not to be appreciated. On the contrary, precisely because in the early S6seki can be traced the makings of the later Soseki of Higan sugi madec (Until After the Spring Equinox), Kojind (The Wayfarer), Kokoroe (Heart), Michikusaf (The Loiterer), and Meiang (Light and Darkness), these early works are of great value. Thus it is somewhat disheartening to find the vast majority of the Japanese people, who have in S6seki a novelist of the very first order, reading primarily the works that are least significant, or,
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