I Am a Cat - Rambling Readers

470 pages

English language

Published Feb. 5, 2001

ISBN:: 978-0-8048-3265-6
Goodreads:: 62772

(1 review)

I Am a Cat (Japanese: 吾輩は猫である, Hepburn: Wagahai wa Neko de Aru) is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki about Japanese society during the Meiji period (1868–1912), particularly the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions. Sōseki's title, Wagahai wa Neko de Aru, uses a very high-register phrasing more appropriate to a nobleman, conveying grandiloquence and self-importance. This is somewhat ironic, since the speaker, an anthropomorphized domestic cat, is a regular house cat of a teacher, and not of a high-ranking noble as the manner of speech suggests, an example of Sōseki's love for droll writing. The book was first published in ten installments in the literary journal Hototogisu. At first, Sōseki intended only to write the short story that constitutes the first chapter of I Am a Cat. However, Takahama Kyoshi, one of the editors of Hototogisu, persuaded Sōseki to serialize the work, which evolved …

I Am a Cat (Japanese: 吾輩は猫である, Hepburn: Wagahai wa Neko de Aru) is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki about Japanese society during the Meiji period (1868–1912), particularly the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions. Sōseki's title, Wagahai wa Neko de Aru, uses a very high-register phrasing more appropriate to a nobleman, conveying grandiloquence and self-importance. This is somewhat ironic, since the speaker, an anthropomorphized domestic cat, is a regular house cat of a teacher, and not of a high-ranking noble as the manner of speech suggests, an example of Sōseki's love for droll writing. The book was first published in ten installments in the literary journal Hototogisu. At first, Sōseki intended only to write the short story that constitutes the first chapter of I Am a Cat. However, Takahama Kyoshi, one of the editors of Hototogisu, persuaded Sōseki to serialize the work, which evolved stylistically as the installments progressed. Nearly all the chapters can stand alone as discrete works.

4 editions

Arbieroo reviewed I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki

Review of 'I Am a Cat' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Apparently this is a classic of Japanese fiction. It dates from the period following the collapse of feudalism and opening up to outside influence, with consequent social upheaval. Soseki pokes gentle fun at the culture he finds himself in and gets away with it, mainly through the twin devices of making the observations those of a nameless kitten and making himself the chief butt of the jokes - though people from many walks of life and social stations are examined in order to fully capture life in Japan at the time.

Whilst there are some through-line "plot threads" e.g. the impending wedding of one character, this isn't really a novel, regardless of what the cover blurb would have you believe and I wouldn't recommend treating it as such: I found that too much at once became a bit of a grind and treating each "chapter" as a separate story, with …

Apparently this is a classic of Japanese fiction. It dates from the period following the collapse of feudalism and opening up to outside influence, with consequent social upheaval. Soseki pokes gentle fun at the culture he finds himself in and gets away with it, mainly through the twin devices of making the observations those of a nameless kitten and making himself the chief butt of the jokes - though people from many walks of life and social stations are examined in order to fully capture life in Japan at the time.

Whilst there are some through-line "plot threads" e.g. the impending wedding of one character, this isn't really a novel, regardless of what the cover blurb would have you believe and I wouldn't recommend treating it as such: I found that too much at once became a bit of a grind and treating each "chapter" as a separate story, with big breaks between each, worked better. Taken that way, this was a lot of fun and an insight into a time and culture I knew little of.

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Japanese Fiction