Natsume Sōseki was een Japanse romanschrijver die de moderne Japanse literatuur diepgaand heeft gevormd. Als kenner van de Britse literatuur en componist van haiku's, kanshi en sprookjes, dringt zijn werk door tot diepe filosofische inzichten en verkent het meesterlijk de menselijke psyche. Zijn geschriften, gekenmerkt door scherpe inzichten en een unieke stilistische benadering, worstelen vaak met thema's als identiteit, vervreemding en de zoektocht naar betekenis in de moderne wereld. Sōseki wordt algemeen beschouwd als een van de grootste Japanse schrijvers, wiens invloed resoneert door generaties van latere auteurs.
Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, BOTCHAN, a hilarious tale about a young man's rebellion against "the system" in a country school, is a classic. Among both young and old in Japan, it has enjoyed a timeless popularity, making it, in the words of Donald Keene, "probably the most widely read novel in modern Japan."
"Rich in understanding and insight."—The New YorkerWhat is love, and what is friendship? What is the extent of our responsibility to ourselves and to others? Kokoro, signifying "the heart of things," examines these age-old questions in terms of the modern world.A trilogy of stories that explores the very essence of loneliness, Kokoro opens with "Sensei and I," in which the narrator recounts his relationship with an intellectual who dwells in isolation but maintains a sophisticated worldview. "My Parents and I" brings the reader into the narrator's family circle, and "Sensei and His Testament" features the eponymous character's explanation of how he came to live a life of solitude.Natsume Soseki (1867–1916), perhaps the greatest novelist of the Meiji period, remains one of Japan's most widely read authors. He wrote this novel in 1914, at the peak of his career, and it remains an excellent introduction to modern Japanese literature.