Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is said to rank among the world's great 20th-century writers. Many consider him Japan's greatest modern novelist. His books, from the comic "I Am a Cat" (1905) and "Botchan" (1906) to the tragic "And Then" (1909) and "Kokoro" (1914), are classics.
His reputation is not unchallengeable but it is immense, and a challenge, to be credible, must be of similar stature. I therefore withhold mine, and mention only in passing that 30-odd years ago I dipped into his work, didn't like it, and haven't looked back, though I am about to, thanks to the book under review.
"Theory of Literature and Other Critical Writings" is an intimidating title but a wonderful anthology. Soseki, to be sure, was a serious man, and he's engaged here in serious business, but he has the saving gift of humor, which, without effacing his melancholy and hypochondria, at times makes you wish you were in the hall listening to him deliver the lectures included here. How, for example, would students at the Tokyo Art College in 1907 have responded to this sally? "Despite the fact that there are a large number of you here listening today, you only seem to be here. I'm very sorry for you, but you don't actually exist." Would their laughter have been boisterous, or uneasy?