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Ten Nights' Dreams

by Natsume Soseki

63 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0059; ISBN 1-55212-395-2; US$14.50, C$18.47, EUR12.10, £8.40

This famed collection of ten connected stories or dreams has a surrealistic atmosphere. The author, Natsume Soseki, is a novelist and scholar of English literature. He ranks with Mori Ogai (1862-1922) as major figure in modern Japanese literature.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpt      catalogue info

About the Book This collection of ten connected stories or dreams has a surrealistic atmosphere. Some are weird, others are grotesquely funny. Among the ten nights, the first, second, third, and fifth nights start with the same sentence "This is the dream I dreamed." Whether Sosecki actually had these dreams or whether they were complete fictions is not known.

About the Author

Natsume Soseki is a novelist and scholar of English literature. He ranks with Mori Ogai (1862-1922) as major figure in modern Japanese literature. Among his works, Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (I am A Cat) and Bochan (Master Darling) are especially known to almost every Japanese and are read even by primary school pupils. His portrait is printed on the Japanese 1,000-yen note.

Soseki was sent to England as a government-sponsored student when he was a teacher at the fifth Higher School in Kumanmoto Prefecture. It was at the time that japan gave up its national isolation policy and was emerging as a modern state. He experienced this historical turning point during his stay in London. On arriving in London, one of the first things he saw was the returning soldiers from the Boer War being mobbed in the streets. One year later began the twentieth century and the British Empire faced the death of Queen Victoria. In 1902, Japan and Great Britain signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. A sense of scepticism toward the progress of civilization was fostered by Soseki's reading of Karl Marx's Das Kapital, among other things. His interest in Natural Science arose through his friendship in London with a Japanese scientist, Ikeda Kikunae. He was in a position to compare the states of two different nations and to see the Japanese civilization from another perspective. When he began writing novels, his experience in England was naturally reflected in his works. On returning home, Sosecki replaced Lafcadio Hearn at the First Higher School and at Tokyo Imperial University where he lectured on literary theory. Eventually he gave up teaching and began writing for the Asahi Shimbun where he spent many years before his death.

Sample Excerpt

Ken-san came to tell me that Shoutarou unexpectedly came home that night, seven days after he had been taken off by a woman, and that, his temperature having suddenly risen, he is sick in bed. Shoutarou is the best-looking young man in our neighbourhood and an extremely honest fellow, but he has a favourite past-time that may strike one as odd. When evening comes, he puts on his Panama hat, sits at the door of the fruit shop, and looks at the faces of the passing women, which never fail to entertain him. He never seems to want to do anything else. When there are few women on the street, he turns to look at the fruit instead. All kinds of fruit. Peaches, apples, Japanese fruits, and bananas are beautifully served in baskets, arranged in two rows, so that the customers can easily select one for a present. Shoutarou looks at these baskets and says they are beautiful. He also says that if he were ever to enter a trade, a fruit shop would be just the thing for him. Nevertheless, he just sits there in his Panama hat and idles his time away.

Occasionally he comments on the fruit, saying that the colour of that Chinese citron, for example, is nice. Yet he has never bought any fruit, nor does he eat any free. He just extols the colour.

That evening a woman had unexpectedly stopped at the entrance of the store. Judging from what she was wearing, she seemed to be a woman of quality. The colour of her clothing caught Shoutarou's fancy. And her face, too, had a quality he found attractive, so Shoutarou saluted her in a courtly way by taking off his precious Panama hat. Then the woman pointed to the largest basket of fruit and asked him for it. Shoutarou quickly took it and handed it to her. When she tried to lift the basket, she remarked that it was a bit heavy for her.

As he was a man of leisure and very open-hearted by nature, Shoutarou offered to carry the basket to her house, and they left the shop together. He had been away ever since.

Catalogue Information

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