Sanshiro - (Penguin Classics) by Natsume Soseki (Paperback)

About the Book

"One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshiro leaving the sleepy countryside for the first time in his life to experience the constantly moving 'real world' of Tokyo, its women and university. In the subtle tension between our appreciation of Soseki's lively humour and our awareness of Sanshiro's doomed innocence, the novel comes to life. Sanshiro is also penetrating social and cultural commentary." --Book Jacket.

Book Synopsis

Soseki's work of gentle humor and doomed innocence depicts twenty-three-year-old Sanshiro, a recent graduate from a provincial college, as he begins university life in the big city of Tokyo. Baffled and excited by the traffic, the academics and -- most of all -- the women, Sanshiro must find his way amongst the sophisticates who fill his new life. An incisive social and cultural commentary, Sanshiro is also a subtle study of first love, tradition, modernization, and the idealism of youth against the cynicism of middle age. This is a Clothbound Classics edition of Soseki's beloved novel, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These collectible Penguin editions are bound in high-quality, colorful and tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. Masterfully translated by Jay Rubin, this edition also includes an introduction by Haruki Murakami.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Review Quotes

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.

Jay Rubin (translator) is an American translator and academic. He is the translator of several of Haruki Murakami's major works.

Haruki Murakami (introducer) is one of Japan's most admired and widely read novelists, whose work has been translated into more than fifty languages. His more than twenty books include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, and Killing Commendatore. Born in Kyoto in 1949, Murakami now lives near Tokyo.