authors

Natsume Sōseki

• Jun 1, 2020 Kokoro By Natsume Sōseki
• Jun 1, 2020 Kusamakura By Natsume Sōseki
• Nov 3, 2020 Sanshir By Natsume Sōseki
• Aug 26, 2021 To The Spring Equinox And Beyond By Natsume Sōseki
• Jul 2, 2023 I Am A Cat By Natsume Sōseki I am a cat is a delight! I guess just an old-timey I-can-haz-cheezeburger meme, but written by an author who I adore for the beauty and elegance of his prose and the delicacy of the relationships he portrays...which does feel a bit of a strange setup, but I guess that is what comes of reading a bibliography in reverse-chronological order, and skipping the other humorous one (I'll get to Botchan eventually). I am a Cat is a delight in the lines of Archy and Mehitable, although it focuses more on the satire and less on the satirical premise - Soseki performs an interesting balancing act of making the funny cat jokes and commenting on the foibles of the Meiji intelligentsia, where the former are more relatable to me and the latter I guess more relatable to him. He is insightful and illustrative and is full of entertaining tidbits, although admittedly I would not say that it has necessarily aged and traveled entirely well; some bits of the book fall flat or are a bit of a chore. Also the ending? Was a bit strong? The introduction suggested Soseki had gotten bored with his characters or ran out of things he wanted to satirize, which I guess makes it the canonical explanation - I would have been inclined to mince my words about the matter a bit otherwise. Anyways, worth a read if you like cats and the Meiji intelligentsia.