Significant events and relationships from the past cast a dark, unshakable shadow over the present. There is the prolonged, unspoken loneliness experienced by a main character. In some ways, Kokoro reminds me of Yasunari Kawabata’s Beauty and Sadness. Instead, I wish to learn more about the narrator’s ailing father who, in spite of being diagnosed with incurable kidney disease, strives to resist his fate and holds on to hope. The mystery surrounding Sensei, his self-imposed isolation and his occasional loaded comments that imply a melancholic doom are intriguing.Īs the story unravels, I feel increasingly indifferent to Sensei who appears to be someone who is indecisive, timid and self-indulgent. I am puzzled by the narrator’s unconditional admiration for Sensei, a melancholic middle-aged man who has withdrawn from society and leads an idle life. The encounters appear ordinary yet are intense and laden with emotions. The story unfolds with the narrator’s vivid recollections of encounters and conversations with Sensei. My initial thought was that the former may be homosexual who sublimates his attraction to the older man by calling him “Sensei” and looking up to him as a mentor. The novel starts on an unassuming tone – a young and unidentified student is drawn to an older man that he meets at a beach. Edwin McClellan, who translated the novel in 1957, wrote in the foreword that he found the above definition to be the most befitting. Published in 1914 in Japanese, Kokoro is widely regarded as Natsume Sōseki’s masterpiece.
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