Kokoro

Kokoro is a novel by Natsume Sōseki, serialized in the Asahi Shimbun in 1914 and regarded as a representative work of his later period. The book consists of three parts: "Sensei and I," "My Parents and I," and "Sensei's Testament." The first-person narrator "I" meets a mysterious and aloof "Sensei" on the beach at Kamakura, visits him repeatedly after returning to Tokyo, and gradually senses that this middle-aged man—who appears comfortable and on good terms with his wife—is forever shadowed at heart. As "I" graduates, my father falls gravely ill, and I return to the countryside to care for him, experiencing the oppressive mood of an era in transition amid my father's sickbed and the atmosphere following the death of the Meiji Emperor. In the end, "Sensei" leaves a long letter and takes his own life; the letter reveals the past he has kept buried for years—as a youth, having his inheritance embezzled by his uncle left him unable to trust others; at university he lived with his friend K, and both fell in love with their landlady's daughter; between love and friendship, self-respect and calculation, he proposed to the landlady first, whereupon K took his own life. Though "Sensei" got what he wanted, he carried guilt for the rest of his life and finally sought release in death. With a calm, unhurried style, the novel depicts the conflict between self-interest and moral duty, and the loneliness and spiritual predicament of intellectuals at the end of an era. In addition to Kokoro, the Qingdao Press "Lin Translation Classics" edition also includes the novella Botchan, which tells the story of a blunt, impetuous young man entering society and stumbling at every turn in a rural school, forming a contrast with the somber depth of Kokoro. This edition is translated by Lin Shaohua and includes a translator's note.