I recently read Natsume Soseki's comic novel, Botchan, in preparation for a trip to Matusyama in Shikoku and really enjoyed it. So I thought I should also give, Kokoro (1914) a read since it is one of the common texts (with Botchan) that all Japanese read in school. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with this novel since it didn't have the charming comic tone of the former, which seemed like a distant relation to Twain's Huckleberry Finn. It was much more serious and earnest and probably represented what Soseki was like in reality. That being said it is probably indicative of the great transformation that was taking place between the end of the Meiji era and the beginning of the Taisho era in psychological terms. I am interested to see what Kon Ichikawa has done with this material in his film adaptation of this classic Japanese novel.
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