Reflections in a Glass Door: Memory and Melancholy in the Personal Writings of Natsume SosekiMuch has been written about Natsume Soseki (1867–1916), one of Japan’s most celebrated writers. Known primarily for his novels, he also published a large and diverse body of short personal writings (shohin) that have long lived in the shadow of his fictional works. The essays, which appeared in the Asahi shinbun between 1907 and 1915, comprise a fascinating autobiographical mosaic, while capturing the spirit of the Meiji era and the birth of modern Japan. |
Contents
The Glass Doors of Natsume Sōseki | 1 |
A Rhetoric of Melancholy | 17 |
Memories and the City | 38 |
In Search of a Meiji Upbringing | 67 |
The Writer and His Family | 93 |
The Writer at His Desk | 117 |
Mentors Protégés and Eccentrics | 156 |
Remembering Sōseki | 188 |
Afterword | 195 |
Sōseki Chronology | 199 |
Notes | 205 |
255 | |
261 | |