The Later Novels of Natsume Soseki: A Critical Study of the Mon, Higan Sugi Made, Kojin, Kokoro, Michikusa, and Meian

Abstract

Despite the fact that he is not as popular in the West as many of the more recent writers such as Kawabata Yasunari and Mishima Yukio, there is almost a consensus among the Japanese readers and critics that Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is one of the greatest novelists in the history of modern Japanese literature. Unlike Kawabata and Mishima, whose contribution to Japanese literature is as great as Soseki's, however, it was Soseki who added intelliectual and philosophical substance to mere aesthetics, thereby elevating his novels to a higher spiritual level. This was possible, for Soseki himself was a professional scholar: he was not only a novelist, but also a haiku/kanshi poet, a painter, a calligrapher, an essayist, and a literary critic. Moreover, hewas a brilliant scholar of Japanese classics, Chinese studies, and English literature, as well as an eminent professor and philosopher.