Literally meaning Pillow of Grass , Kusamakura is Soseki s portrayal of an artist who opposes convention and logic, and shuns emotional involvement. Soseki s artist attempts to live as a hermit using other people as his stimuli for his sensations and reflections. The artist fluently and prolifically composes poetry, but finds himself unable to paint - despite befriending a beautiful young divorcee. He remains emotionally distanced from her for a long time and it is only one day when he sees compassion in her eyes that he finds himself able to paint her, but also reconnected with the emotional undercurrents he had hitherto tried to avoid, thereby ending his retreat from the world. Siseko s beautiful and haikuesque novel is infused with his own musings on art and nature, and helped to establish the novel as a major literary form in Japan.
About the Author
Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is often considered the greatest modern Japanese novelist. In 1900, his government sent him to England for two years as Japan s first Japanese English literary scholar , but he had a miserable time there. Returning to Japan, he wrote his greatest novels, including Botchan, Sanshiro and Kokoro, as well as essays, haiku, and kanshi.
Meredith McKinney is a translator of Japanese literature, both contemporary and classical. She lived in Japan for twenty years and is currently Honorary Associate Professor at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her translations for Penguin Classics include The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, Essays in Idleness and Hojoki by Kenko and Chomei, and two novels by Natsume Soseki.
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