The Three Cornered World by Natsume Soseki
Walking up a mountain track, I fell to thinking. Approach everything rationally, and you become harsh. Pole along in the stream of emotions, and you will be swept away by the current. Give free rein to your desires, and you become uncomfortably confined. It is not a very agreeable place to live, this world of ours. Opening with the most famous introductory lines in Japanese literature, this novel has been cherished by generations of readers as a glittering jewel in the crown of Soseki's artistic achievement. A painter escapes to a mountain spa to work in a world free of emotional entanglement, but finds himself fascinated by the alluring mistress at his inn, and inspired by thoughts of Ophelia by Millais, he imagines painting her. The woman is rumored to have abandoned her husband and fallen in love with a priest at a nearby temple, but somehow the right expression for the face on the painting eludes the artist. Beautifully written, humorous, and filled with bittersweet reflections on the human condition, this work was intended as a unique haiku-novel with a mood utterly different to anything ever produced in the West. Demonstrating along the way a mastery of everything from Western painting to Chinese literature, Soseki succeeded in creating an artistic tour-de-force.
"Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature" --Haruki Murakami "The greatest Japanese novelist of the modern period." --Sunday Telegraph "A writer to be judged by the highest standards. His works create, after the fashion of all great writers, a new and completely individual reality." --Spectator "Vastly refreshing ... Soseki doesn't shrink from seeking and finding exquisite pearls of beauty." --Guardian
Natsume Soseki (1867–1916) remains one of the most widely read authors in Japan over a century after his death. Born in Tokyo and educated first at the Imperial University and then in England, he spent many years lecturing to Japanese students on English literature. His novels and essays are known for examining the conflicts between old and new, and between East and West.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780895267689 |
| ISBN 10 | 0895267683 |
| Title | The Three Cornered World |
| Author | Natsume Soseki |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Regnery Publishing Inc |
| Year published | 1988-11-17 |
| Number of pages | 184 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |