Sanshirō
Natsume, SōsekiPenguin Classics · 2009
One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshirō leaving the sleepy countryside for the first time in his life to experience the constantly moving 'real world' of Tokyo, its women and university. In the subtle tension between our appreciation of Soseki's lively humour and our awareness of Sanshirō's doomed innocence, the novel comes to life. Sanshirō is also penetrating social and cultural commentary.
Details
- Title
- Sanshirō
- Translation of
- Publication Date
- 2009
- Language
- English
- Media
- Page Count
- 288
- Format
- Paperback
- ISBN 13
- 9780140455625
- Author
- Natsume, Sōseki
- Translator
- Rubin, Jay
- Introduction
- Murakami, Haruki
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics
Blurb
Sōseki's work of gentle humour and doomed innocence depicts twenty-three-year-old Sanshiro, a recent graduate from a provincial college, as he begins university life in the big city of Tokyo. Baffled and excited by the traffic, the academics and - most of all - the women, Sanshirō must find his way amongst the sophisticates that fill his new life. An incisive social and cultural commentary, Sanshirō is also a subtle study of first love, tradition and modernization, and the idealism of youth against the cynicism of middle age.
In his introduction, Haruki Murakami reflects on his fascination with Sanshirō, how the story differs from a European coming-of-age novel and why it has come to be a perennial classic in Japan.
This edition also contains suggestions for further reading, notes and a chronology.
Table of Contents
- Note on Japanese Name Order and Pronunciationvii
- Chronologyviii
- Introductionxxiii
- Further Readingxxxviii
- Translator's Notexli
- Sanshirō1
- Notes229
Remarkable
