Table Of ContentJ A P A N E S E L I T E R A T U R E A N D C U L T U R E
[ C O N T I N U E D F R O M F R O N T F L A P ]
Marcus identifes memory and
melancholy as key themes in Sōseki’s Much has been written about Natsume
personal writings and highlights their Sōseki (1867–1916), one of Japan’s most
relevance in his fction. He balances celebrated writers. Known primarily for
Sōseki’s account of his Tokyo household his novels, he also published a large and
with that of his wife, Natsume Kyōko, who diverse body of short personal writings
left a straightforward record of life with (shōhin) that have long lived in the shadow
her celebrated husband. Sōseki crafted of his fctional works. Te essays, which
a moving and convincing voice in his appeared in the Asahi shinbun between
shōhin, which can now be pondered and 1907 and 1917, comprise a fascinating
enjoyed for their penetrating observation autobiographical mosaic, while capturing
and honesty, as well as the fresh the spirit of the Meiji era and the birth of
perspective they ofer on one of Japan’s modern Japan.
literary giants. “Author of a marvelously readable study of Mori Ōgai, modern In Refections in a Glass Door, Marvin
Japan’s other immovable mountain, Marcus here combines Marcus introduces readers to a rich
translation, biography, history, criticism, and analysis to guide the sampling of Sōseki’s shōhin. Te writer
reader gracefully through the best of Sōseki’s non-fctional (and revisits his Tokyo childhood, recalling
semi-fctional) writing, illuminating both the major novels and the family, friends, and colleagues and musing
idiosyncratic mind that created them. An impressive work.” wistfully on the transformation of his city
and its old neighborhoods. He painfully
—Jay Rubin, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies recounts his two years in London,
where he immersed himself in literary
research even as he struggled with severe
depression. A chronic stomach ailment
causes Sōseki to refect on his own
mortality and what he saw as the spiritual
afictions of modern Japanese: rampant
egocentrism and materialism. Troughout
he adopts a number of narrative voices
ISBN 978-0-8248-3306-0 and poses: the peevish husband, the
UNIVERSITY of 9 0 0 0 0 REFLECTIONS harried novelist, the convalescent, the
Marvin Marcus is associate professor seeker of wisdom.
of Japanese language and literature and HAWAI‘I PRESS 9 7 8 0 8 2 4 8 3 3 0 6 0
comparative literature at Washington [ C O N T I N U E D O N B A C K F L A P ]
University in St. Louis. H O N O LU LU, H AWA I ‘ I 9 6 8 2 2 - 1 8 8 8 w.uhpres.hawai.edu IN A GLASS DOOR
Jacket illustrations: (Front) Studio photograph of Natsume Sōseki, taken on September 19, 1912. Te armband is a
symbol of national mourning for the recently interred Meiji emperor. (Iwanami shoten); (Back) Sōseki in his study. MEMORY AND MELANCHOLY IN THE PERSONAL
Photograph taken in December 1914, shortly before he embarked on his Garasudo serialization. (Iwanami shoten)
WRITINGS OF NATSUME SO¯ SEKI MARVIN MARCUS
Jacket design: Julie Matsuo-Chun
REFLECTIONS IN A GLASS DOOR MARCUS
Reflections in a Glass Door
m a r c u s t e x t c s 3 . i n d d 1 6 / 1 / 0 9 1 1 : 1 1 : 0 5 A M
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Reflections in
a Glass Door
Memory and Melancholy in the
Personal Writings of Natsume Sōseki
Marvin Marcus
University of Hawai‘i Press
Honolulu
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© 2009 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Natsume, Soseki, 1867–1916.
[Essays. Selections]
Reflections in a glass door : memory and melancholy in the
personal writings of Natsume Soseki / Marvin Marcus.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8248-3306-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
I. Marcus, Marvin. II. Title.
PL812.A8A6 2010
895.6'442—dc22
2009010035
Publication of this book was assisted by a grant from the
Japan Studies Endowment Fund, Center for Japanese Studies,
University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa.
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free
paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Council on Library Resources.
Designed by Paul Herr
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
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For Ginger, Danny, and Steve,
with much love,
and in memory of my parents,
Michael and Fruma Marcus
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Glass Doors of Natsume Sōseki 1
Chapter 1 London Underground: A Rhetoric of Melancholy 17
Chapter 2 Babashita Traces: Memories and the City 38
Chapter 3 Shōhin Episodes: In Search of a Meiji Upbringing 67
Chapter 4 Burdens of Domesticity: The Writer and His Family 93
Chapter 5 Inside Glass Doors: The Writer at His Desk 117
Chapter 6 Literary Portraits: Mentors, Protégés, and Eccentrics 156
Chapter 7 Zōshigaya and Beyond: Re-membering Sōseki 188
Afterword 195
Sōseki Chronology 199
Notes 205
Selected Bibliography 255
Index 261
vii
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Acknowledgments
Even for those like myself who work alone in small book-lined rooms, the
study of literature is inevitably a collaborative effort. As a community of
readers and scholars, we are beholden to those who hear us out, share their
thoughts and ideas, and help expand our horizons and enrich the way we read
and understand the world.
I owe debts large and small to those who have taught me, encouraged
me, and provided intellectual and emotional sustenance over the years spent
on this project. First, to my mentors at the University of Michigan—Robert
Hopkins Brower and Robert Lyons Danly—who early on instilled in me an
appreciation of literary art and a commitment to high academic standards.
Their passing, many years ago, is still deeply felt, and their example has long
remained an inspiration.
Among the many inhabitants of the Sōseki scholarly community, I owe a
great deal to those whose work has been exemplary. Edwin McClellan and Jay
Rubin, among a handful of others, have written about Natsume Sōseki and
modern Japanese literature in ways that neither exclude nor intimidate the
nonspecialist and that delight and instruct in equal measure. I have greatly
benefitted from the sheer intelligence and integrity of their work. Moreover,
their beautifully crafted renderings of Sōseki’s novels have stood as models of
the translator’s art.
I’ve benefitted as well from discussions and correspondence with many col-
leagues and friends on various aspects of this project. Here I wish to acknowl-
edge Puck Brecher, Rebecca Copeland, Mike Finke, Bob Hegel, Matthew
Königsberg, Joel Marcus, Sharalyn Orbaugh, Elizabeth Oyler, Henry Smith,
and Jonathan Zwicker.
I owe so much to those at Washington University with whom I’ve worked
for nearly a quarter of a century. First and foremost, a collective word of thanks
to my students—undergraduate and graduate—who have studied Sōseki as
a captive audience in many courses taught over the years and on whom I
ix
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