OOriginally published in 1914, two years before the author’s death, ‘Kokoro’ is, to this day, his most widely read and best-known novel worldwide, but it only reached the Portuguese publishing market this month, through Presença.
“This is the most emblematic novel by one of the most important Japanese authors of the last two centuries, a story that illuminates friendship as the deepest feeling in life”, says the publisher.
The title means “heart”, but in the work it takes on different ‘nuances’, such as affection, spirit, determination, courage or feeling, and focuses on two characters: a boy, whose name is not known, who seeks to give meaning to his existence and realize what surrounds him, while taking the first steps in adult life, and an old man, who is presented as a Master and who is a mentor for the young man.
The story takes place in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, a time when major changes are approaching in the country. The Master has long been exiled from the world, but he sees in the naive young disciple someone to trust with the memories and secrets that have cast a long shadow of guilt over his life.
This story of friendship between the two protagonists “mirrors, subtly and poetically, the abyss between two generations that represent, themselves, the fading of a time and the birth of a new era”, according to the publisher.
The Master is overcome with anguish and paralyzed by inaction, and the young idealist struggles to understand him, something that can only happen when the death of Emperor Meiji opens doors for the arrival of a new Japan.
Described in the preface by the Japanese philosopher Tanikawa Tetsuzo (1895-1989) as a “novel of the psychological genre”, “Kokoro” is divided into three parts.
In the first, entitled ‘O Mestre e eu’, the “I” of the novel, who is the young student, meets the one whom he will henceforth call Mestre and whose enigmatic charm attracts him, leading him to seek to unravel his secret, leading gradually the reader to the heart of the plot.
The second part, ‘My parents and I’, forms a kind of tour back to his province, where the student takes care of his dying father.
In the third part, ‘The Master and the testament’, which is also the central one, the Mestre, before killing himself, writes his moral testament, his confession, to the student.
“This confession, while unveiling all the mysteries, makes visible the kind of inner need that little by little pushed the Master towards suicide”, explains Tanikawa Tetsuzo.
The philosopher considers that this novel may contain “states of mind that disconcert the western reader”, but that some “inexplicable” attitudes can be explained by the ancient Japanese moral code: stoicism and silence.
“Moreover, in terms of customs, certain scenes at the end of Meiji will give the Western reader an impression of strangeness: the life of students, relationships between men and women, family relationships between people in the countryside, he says, adding that these images seen through foreign eyes remain “a precious milestone in the changing history” of modern Japan.
Along with Osamu Dazai’s ‘Non-Human’, ‘Kokoro’ is one of the best-selling novels of all time in Japan, having sold over seven million copies in the country as of 2016.
Born in Tokyo in 1867, Natsume Soseki is widely considered Japan’s greatest modern novelist.
He graduated in English Language and Literature at the University of Tokyo in 1893, where he later also taught.
In 1905, his first novel, ‘Sou Um Gato’, brought him great recognition and, in the following year, he abandoned his academic career and devoted his life entirely to writing.
‘Kokoro’, which was originally published in 1914, two years before the author’s death, is, to this day, his most widely read and best known novel worldwide.
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