Overview

Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916) was the father of the modern novel in Japan, chronicling the plight of bourgeois characters caught between familiar modes of living and the onslaught of Western values and conventions. Yet even though generations of Japanese high school students have been expected to memorize passages from his novels and he is routinely voted the most important Japanese writer in national polls, he remains less familiar to Western readers than authors such as Kawabata, Tanizaki, and Mishima. In this biography, John Nathan provides a lucid and vivid account of a great writer laboring to create a remarkably original oeuvre in spite of the physical and mental illness that plagued him all his life. He traces Sōseki's complex and contradictory character, offering rigorous close readings of Sōseki's groundbreaking experiments with narrative strategies, irony, and multiple points of view as well as recounting excruciating hospital stays and recurrent attacks of paranoid delusion. Drawing on previously untranslated letters and diaries, published reminiscences, and passages from Sōseki's fiction, Nathan renders intimate scenes of the writer's life and distills a portrait of a tormented yet unflaggingly original author. The first full-length study of Sōseki in fifty years, Nathan's biography elevates Sōseki to his rightful place as a great synthesizer of literary traditions and a brilliant chronicler of universal experience who, no less than his Western contemporaries, anticipated the modernism of the twentieth century.

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Reviews

Nathan offers a lucid view of the life and works of the writer many consider to be Japan's most important, and best, novelist. He deftly shows how Soseki's life reflects the many social and intellectual changes that occurred over the tumultuous decades of his lifetime--decades of Japan's transformation into a modern nation.--Alan Tansman, University of California, Berkeley It's been half a century since the appearance of the most recent English-language biography of Natsume Soseki, one of the giants of twentieth-century world literature, so the arrival of John Nathan's fine new study is cause for celebration. Soseki's life story often reads like one of his novels, and Nathan captures it in prose worthy of his subject.--Michael Bourdaghs, University of Chicago

Nathan offers a lucid view of the life and works of the writer many consider to be Japan's most important, and best, novelist. He deftly shows how Soseki's life reflects the many social and intellectual changes that occurred over the tumultuous decades of his lifetime--decades of Japan's transformation into a modern nation.--Alan Tansman, University of California, Berkeley It's been half a century since the appearance of the most recent English-language biography of Natsume Soseki, one of the giants of twentieth-century world literature, so the arrival of John Nathan's fine new study is cause for celebration. Soseki's life story often reads like one of his novels, and Nathan captures it in prose worthy of his subject.--Michael Bourdaghs, University of Chicago Comprehensive and discerning. . . . A revealing portrait of a writer who deserves a new audience.--Kirkus Reviews [An] illuminating biography. . . . Nathan's incisive portrait of Soseki as a troubled yet widely celebrated literary game changer--his image adorned the 1,000 banknote in 1984--will likely drive new readers to his fiction.--Publishers Weekly This biography and literary study describes a difficult, demanding man, plagued by poor physical and mental health, yet one who was also a master stylist with an extraordinary gift.--Times Higher Education A vibrant portrayal of the transformation of a modern Japan as witnessed through the story of one of that country's best writers.--International Examiner [Natsume Soseki's] life and work are explored insightfully in John Nathan's outstanding and cohesive literary biography.--Eileen Battersby Financial Times Nathan, a master translator and a gifted storyteller. . . . paints a portrait of this singular man based mostly on primary sources, accompanied by convincing textual analyses of the novelist's representative works. The result is an accessible account of a tortured, difficult and yet ultimately irresistible soul that is touching even to those who are not yet familiar with the pleasures of Soseki's writing.--Eri Hotta Times Literary Supplement Anyone with an interest in Japanese literature will enjoy the book. Not only is it a nice introduction to his work, but it also provides fascinating insights into a life cut short. As such, Soseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist is a work to be recommended, an easy read about a great writer.--Tony's Reading List A fine biographical work that also helpfully covers Soseki's major works in quite good depth, Soseki is a solid and interesting biography--M.A. Orthofer Complete Review Soseki captures the soul of Japan's greatest modern writer in the best tradition of biography. Here the venerated figure comes fully alive with his infuriating failings and astounding intelligence, his maddening ambitions and biting self-deprecations. The book also offers a vibrant portrayal of Japan's rapidly transforming society--an extraordinary feast.--Minae Mizumura, author of Inheritance from Mother

Nathan offers a lucid view of the life and works of the writer many consider to be Japan's most important, and best, novelist. He deftly shows how Soseki's life reflects the many social and intellectual changes that occurred over the tumultuous decades of his lifetime--decades of Japan's transformation into a modern nation.--Alan Tansman, University of California, Berkeley It's been half a century since the appearance of the most recent English-language biography of Natsume Soseki, one of the giants of twentieth-century world literature, so the arrival of John Nathan's fine new study is cause for celebration. Soseki's life story often reads like one of his novels, and Nathan captures it in prose worthy of his subject.--Michael Bourdaghs, University of Chicago Soseki captures the soul of Japan's greatest modern writer in the best tradition of biography. Here the venerated figure comes fully alive with his infuriating failings and astounding intelligence, his maddening ambitions and biting self-deprecations. The book also offers a vibrant portrayal of Japan's rapidly transforming society--an extraordinary feast.--Minae Mizumura, author ofInheritance from Mother

Author Information

John Nathan is Koichi Takashima Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Mishima: A Biography (1974) and Sony: The Private Life (1999), among other titles. He is the translator of Sōseki’s last novel, Light and Dark (Columbia, 2014), as well as works by Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburō Ōe. Nathan is also an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker.

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