Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki, Paperback, 9780143105190 | Buy online at The Nile
Departments
 Free Returns*

Kusamakura

Author: Natsume Soseki and Meredith McKinney   Series: Penguin Classics

Paperback

A new translation for a novel by one of Japan's most beloved authors

Features a portrayal of an artist who opposes convention and logic, and shuns emotional involvement. This book is a haikuesque novel infused with the author's musings on art and nature.

Read more
New
$27.03
Or pay later with
Check delivery options
Paperback

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

A new translation for a novel by one of Japan's most beloved authors

Features a portrayal of an artist who opposes convention and logic, and shuns emotional involvement. This book is a haikuesque novel infused with the author's musings on art and nature.

Read more

Description

A new translation for a novel by one of Japan's most beloved authorsA stunning new English translation-the first in more than forty years-of a major novel by the father of modern Japanese fictionNatsume Soseki's Kusamakura-meaning "grass pillow"-follows its nameless young artist-narrator on a meandering walking tour of the mountains. At the inn at a hot spring resort, he has a series of mysterious encounters with Nami, the lovely young daughter of the establishment. Nami, or "beauty," is the center of this elegant novel, the still point around which the artist moves and the enigmatic subject of Soseki's word painting. In the author's words, Kusamakura is "a haiku-style novel, that lives through beauty." Written at a time when Japan was opening its doors to the rest of the world, Kusamakura turns inward, to the pristine mountain idyll and the taciturn lyricism of its courtship scenes, enshrining the essence of old Japan in a work of enchanting literary nostalgia.

Read more

About the Author

Natsume Soseki(1867-1916), one of Japan's most influential modern writers, is widely considered the foremost novelist of the Meiji era (1868-1914) and a master of psychological fiction. As well as his works of fiction, his essays, haiku, and kanshi have been influential and are popular even today.Meredith McKinney (translator) holds a PhD in medieval Japanese literature from the University in Canberra, where she teaches in the Japan Centre. She lived and taught in Japan for twenty years and now lives near Braidwood, New South Wales. Her other translations include Ravine and Other Stories, The Tale of Saigyo, and for Penguin Classics, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, and Kusamakura.

Read more

More on this Book

A stunning new translationthe first in more than forty yearsof a major novel by the father of modern Japanese fiction Natsume S'sekis "Kusamakura" follows its nameless young artist-narrator on a meandering walking tour of the mountains. At the inn at a hot spring resort, he has a series of mysterious encounters with Nami, the lovely young daughter of the establishment. Nami, or beauty, is the center of this elegant novel, the still point around which the artist moves and the enigmatic subject of S'sekis word painting. In the authors words, "Kusamakura" is a haiku-style novel, that lives through beauty. Written at a time when Japan was opening its doors to the rest of the world, "Kusamakura" turns inward, to the pristine mountain idyll and the taciturn lyricism of its courtship scenes, enshrining the essence of old Japan in a work of enchanting literary nostalgia.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
Penguin Books Ltd | Penguin Classics
Published
31st July 2008
Pages
192
ISBN
9780143105190

Returns

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.

New
$27.03
Or pay later with
Check delivery options