Natsume Soseki
Natsume Sōseki ( Japanese 夏 目 漱 石 , actually Natsume Kinnosuke 夏 目 金 之 助 ; born February 9, 1867 in Ushigome , Edo (now Shinjuku , Tokyo ); † December 9, 1916 in Tokyo) is one of the most famous Japanese writers of the Meiji period .
Origin and education
Natsume Sōseki was the youngest of eight children. Therefore, when his mother gave birth to him, she was already old and she was very ashamed of the fact that another son was to follow. Because of this - and also because the formerly wealthy family could not financially afford to raise another child - the infant was given to the former servant Shiobara Masanosuke ( 塩 原 昌 之 助 ). The latter looked after Kinnosuke together with his wife until he was nine years old. After that, his birth parents took him back home - posing as his grandparents - although his father did so with reservations. His mother died when he was fourteen years old.
Despite the fact that Natsume Kinnosuke was an unwanted, ergo unloved, child, his father made it possible for him to get a good education: He was sent to a Chinese school, where he also discovered his enthusiasm for Chinese literature and developed the ardent desire, perhaps one Day to become a writer. His family was anything but enthusiastic about this idea and he himself also saw that being an author in his lifetime would be a rather breadless existence. When he began attending Tokyo University in September 1884, he did so with the intention of becoming an architect. It was during this time that he began to learn English - a language he deeply hated - as he felt it could be useful in his later career.
In 1887 he met a friend in Masaoka Shiki who supported him in his endeavors to become a writer. Shiki introduced him to the art of haiku poetry. From this point on, Natsume Sōseki began to sign his poems with the name Sōseki. This name appears in the proverb Sōseki-chinryū ( 漱 石 枕 流 ) in the Jin Shu with the meaning of a "bad loser" or "opinionated". In 1890 he entered the English Literature Department of the Imperial University of Tokyo and quickly became a master of the English language. Sōseki graduated from college in 1893 and became a substitute teacher for English at the Tokyo Higher Normal School (later Tokyo University of Education ).
In 1895 Natsume Sōseki became a teacher at a middle school in Matsuyama on Shikoku . This is the place where the plot of his novel Botchan should take place. In addition to teaching, he has published haiku poetry and Chinese poetry in a number of newspapers and magazines. In 1896 he resigned and began teaching at the 5th high school in Kumamoto . On June 10 of the same year he married Nakane Kyōko ( 中 根 鏡子 ).
In 1900 Natsume Sōseki traveled to London as an emissary to the Japanese government to study there. He went to Cambridge and stayed a night and went to the university. He soon gave up his plan to enroll as a student, however, as he could not finance it with his teacher's salary. The time in London was terrible and traumatizing for him, who knew solid and tradition-conscious family associations: He spent most of the time alone in his apartment behind books. His friends were concerned that he might go crazy. He lived as a tenant in a total of four different apartments. Nevertheless, he managed to complete his knowledge of English literature. He returned to Japan at the end of 1902. Five years later he wrote of this period: “ The two years that I spent in London were the most unpleasant of my life. I lived in misery among English gentlemen like a poor dog lost in a wolf pack. "
The efforts of his stay in London were to pay off, however: he became professor of English literature at the Imperial University of Tokyo.
In 1909 he traveled through Manchuria and Korea at the expense of the South Manchurian Railway Company . During this enterprise Man-Kan tokoro dokoro ( 満 韓 と こ ろ ど こ ろ ), a travelogue with fictional elements, in which he expresses his disregard for the local population and culture and deals in detail with his health.
Sōseki is buried in the Zōshigaya cemetery . In 1990 the asteroid (4039) Souseki was named after him.
The literary career
Natsume Sōseki's writing career began when he wrote a short story called Me the Hangover . This story went so well that he published it in the well-known literary magazine Hototogisu , which was edited by his friend Masaoka Shiki . The reactions of the readers were very positive, and shortly afterwards he published a second work with the novel Botchan , which again earned him a lot of applause, but also criticism. When he had established his reputation as a writer, he resigned his professorship in 1907 and wrote his novellas all day. He published one novel every year until his death from stomach cancer in late 1916.
plant
Significant themes in Natsume Sōseki's work were the struggle of the common people against economic hardship and the conflicts between duty and desire or the contradiction between loyalty and freedom. Furthermore, the rapid industrialization of Japan and its consequences for the population are described in his books. Sōseki paints a pessimistic picture of human nature. In 1914 he wrote his most famous novel Kokoro ( こ ゝ ろ ). This book is still one of the most important works in modern Japanese literature . Kokoro can literally be translated as heart , but also as soul , thought and inner being (as opposed to mind).
Natsume Sōseki is depicted on 1000 yen bills that were printed from 1984 to 2004.
Significant works by Natsume Sōseki are:
- Me the Hangover (1905,吾輩 は 猫 で あ る , Wagahai wa neko de aru )
- Rondon-tō (1905, 倫敦塔 )
- The Gate from Tokyo (1906,坊 っ ち ゃ ん , Botchan ). Translated by Jürgen Berndt u. Be Shinohara. Berlin; Weimar: Aufbau-Verlag, 1965. Div. Reprints.
- The Grass Pillow Book (1906, 草 枕 , Kusamakura )
- Shumi no iden (1906, 趣味 の 遺 伝 )
- Nihyakujū nichi (1906, 二百 十 日 )
- Corn poppy (1907, 虞美人 草 , Gubijinsou )
- The Miner (1908, 坑 夫 , Kofū ). Translation and epilogue by Franz Hintereder-Emde. be.bra verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86124-920-7
- Dreams from Ten Nights (1908, 夢 十 夜 , Yume jū-ya ). Translated by Jürgen Berndt. In: Dreams of Ten Nights. Japanese narratives of the 20th century. Eduard Klopfenstein, Theseus Verlag, Munich 1992, pp. 63–85. ISBN 3-85936-057-4
- Sanshirō's ways (1908,三四郎 , Sanshirō ). Translation and epilogue by Christof Langemann. be.bra Verlag, Berlin.
- And then? (1909, そ れ か ら , Sore kara ). Translated by Ryoichi Iwako and Rose Takahashi. Kyoto 1943, Doitsu bunka kenkyusho
- Mon (1910, 門 )
- Omoidasu koto nado (1910, 思 い 出 す 事 な ど )
- Higan sugi made (1912, 彼岸 過 迄 )
- Kōjin (1912, 行人 )
- Kokoro (1914,こ ゝ ろ , Kokoro ) Translated from Japanese and with an afterword by Oscar Benl.
- Watakushi no kojin shugi (1914, 私 の 個人主義 )
- Michikusa (1915, 道 草 )
- Behind the glass door (1915, 硝 子 戸 の 中 , Garasudo no uchi ). Translated and provided with an afterword by Christoph Langemann, Angkor Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3936018806
- Meian (1916, 明暗 ; unfinished)
- Haiku . Selection, German by Guido Keller. Angkor Verlag 2014. E-Book (Kindle).
Web links
- Literature by and about Natsume Sōseki in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature by Natsume Sōseki in Aozora Bunko (Japanese)
- natsumesoseki.com (jap.)
- Pearl divers reviews of his works
- Large collection of links to Natsume Sôseki
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joshua A. Fogel: Review of: Rediscovering Natsume Sōseki: Celebrating the Centenary of Sōseki's Arrival in England 1900-1902 . With the First English Translation of "Travels in Manchuria and Korea" by Inger Sigrun Brodey; Sammy I. Tsunematsu, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 1372-1373.
- ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 16246
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Natsume, Soseki |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 夏 目 漱 石 (Japanese); Natsume Sōseki; 夏 目 金 之 助 (real name, Japanese); Natsume Kinnosuke (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 9, 1867 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ushigome, Edo (now Tokyo ) |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 9, 1916 |
| Place of death | Tokyo |