Kokoro (The Library of Japan) - Hardcover

Natsume, Soseki; Soseki, Natsume

4.03

29 ratings by Goodreads

9780819182487: Kokoro (The Library of Japan)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0819182486 ISBN 13: 9780819182487

Publisher: Madison Books, Inc, 1992

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I always called him "Sensei." I shall therefore refer to him simply as "Sensei," and not by his real name. It is not because I consider it more discreet, but it is because I find it more natural that I do so. Whenever the memory of him comes back to me now, I find that I think of him as "Sensei" still. And with pen in hand, I cannot bring myself to write of him in any other way. It was at Kamakura, during the summer holidays, that I first met Sensei. I was then a very young student. I went there at the insistence of a friend of mine, who had gone to Kamakura to swim. We were not together for long. It had taken me a few days to get together enough money to cover the necessary expenses, and it was only three days after my arrival that my friend received a telegram from home demanding his return. His mother, the telegram explained, was ill. My friend, however, did not believe this. For some time his parents had been trying to persuade him, much against his will, to marry a certain girl. According to our modern outlook, he was really too young to marry. Moreover, he was not in the least fond of the girl. It was in order to avoid an unpleasant situation that instead of going home, as he normally would have done, he had gone to the resort near Tokyo to spend his holidays. He showed me the telegram, and asked me what he should do. I did not know what to tell him. It was, however, clear that if his mother was truly ill, he should go home. And so he decided to leave after all. I, who had taken so much trouble to join my friend, was left alone.

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Review:

"One of the honorable ancestors of a brilliant generation of novels." --Donald Barr, New York Times

Synopsis:

Japan's greatest modern novelist, Natsume Soseki, has been described as one of the great literary giants of the 19th century, ranking with Dostoevsky, Melville and Dickens. "Kokoro - The Heart of Things" is both novel and psychological study. Against the background of an unconventional romantic triangle, Soseki probes the deep wrenching loneliness of a thinking person in a world full of new technology and clashing ideals. His two most famous essays, "My Individualism" and "The Civilization of Modern-Day Japan" are also included. The book is part of a series which aims to collect the best of Japanese fiction and non-fiction in modern translation, for presentation to a western audience. Produced under the aegis of the Japan-US Conference on Cultural and Educational Exchange, its volumes are designed to make readers aware of the social and cultural underpinnings of modern Japan.

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