Critical Study of the Novels of Natsume Soseki (1867-1916)

“Dr. William Ridgeway has given us a sparkling and trailblazing study of the work of Japan's preeminent modem novelist Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), which represents a quantum leap in Western scholarship on this figure's contribution to Japanese-and indeed world-literature. And yet, as he himself freely admits, he has by no means thereby exhausted the interpretative possibilities of this protean author's work. On the contrary, he has challenged the readers of Soseki-preferably of course in the original Japanese but even in the ever- widening circle of translation, obviously of greatly varying quality-to ponder further the many important questions Soseki has posed, questions with which Ridgeway has here wrestled so admirably. Ridgeway has wisely delimited his study to Soseki' s fiction, skillfully skirting myriad biographical problems as well as the many autobiographical elements in the works, an area that Japanese scholars especially have been continually mining for almost a century. He further narrows his study by focusing on three major theoretical concepts which he forthrightly states as "gender, the body, and desire," thereby placing himself squarely in the midst of late-twentieth- and early-twenty- first-century literary criticism. Nevertheless, he does not wholly neglect the more traditional-albeit now somewhat undervalued-areas of literary criticism, principally the historical context of the novels, the late Meiji (1868-1912) and early Taisho (1912-1926) periods, by providing penetrating commentary on the pertaining social, economic, and, more broadly, cultural factors … I must applaud his study for its extraordinary depth and breadth. Indeed, I cannot but think that Soseki, if he were alive today and could read it, would applaud it too.” – (from the Foreword) Dr. V.H. Viglielmo, Professor Emeritus, University of Hawai’i at Manoa

List of Figures
Note on the Texts with Synopses
Foreword by V. H. Viglielmo
Preface
Introduction
1. Theorizing Gender, the Body and Desire
2. Reading the Diseased Body: Fissure, Blindness, and The Gaze in Meian
3. Women on Top: Epiphanies in Botchan, Kusamakura, Sanshiro, Sorekara, Meian
4. Erotic Triangles and Homosocial Desire in Gubijinso, Nowaki, Sorekara, Mon, Kojin, Kokoro, Meian 5. The New Woman, The Femme Fatale, Osan/Koharu, Madonna/Whore
6. Modern Love in Meredith and Soseki: The Dissolution of a Marriage
7. Success, Flanerie, and Tairiku ronin (Continental Wanderers)
8. In Conclusion: Matome / Recapitulation
Notes
Works Cited
Annotated Bibliography
Index

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