I Am a Cat, by Natsume Sōseki

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

I've just finished reading a satiric late19th-century Japanese novel originally published in installments. It's been published a variety of ways: as ten installments in a magazine, as three shorter books, and as one very hefty volume. I have the hefty volume.

It's about a nameless cat, written in a very formal, stuffy way (the cat uses the royal "we", as in "we are a cat"). It's an interesting contrast to British novels of the same period, but some of the observations are very funny. During the cat's account of his first attempt to catch rats, he compares himself to a famous historical general. The seriousness with which the cat describes his routine (pine sliding!) is funny, but only if Dickens makes you LOL.

I think the best part is the last volume, which includes a long conversation between several Japanese men, friends of the nameless cat's owner, Mr. Sneaze. They read poetry, discuss philosophy, and tell stories.

More fascinating history on the novel here, but the Wikipedia entry tells how it ends.

Comments

[waelisc.livejournal.com]

Oh! My sister gave me a copy of this long ago. I don't have it anymore but I remember enjoying it greatly. I must have had one of the small shorter books; I don't remember it being the hefty volume you describe.

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

It's 638 pages in the single-volume version I have. It might have seemed heftier than it is just because even though I'm used to 19th-century prose, 19th-century Japanese even in translation was another remove from my POV and it took a little while to read.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you posted on this. I kept seeing it in bookshops in Japan and was curious, but never bought it because I didn't want to lug a huge book all over Japan.

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

It was good. It just wasn't a brisk read.