I Am a Cat – Soseki Natsume
I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume / ISBN 9780804832656 / 470-page paperback from Tuttle Classics
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“A nonchalant string of anecdotes and wisecracks, told by a fellow who doesn’t have a name, and has never caught a mouse, and isn’t much good for anything except watching human beings in action…” –The New Yorker
Written from 1904 through 1906, Soseki Natsume’s comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle-class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments on the follies and foibles of the people around him.
A classic of Japanese literature, I Am a Cat is one of Soseki’s best-known novels. Considered by many as the most significant writer in modern Japanese history, Soseki’s I Am a Cat is a classic novel sure to be enjoyed for years to come.
Born Natsume Kinnosuke, Soseki was brought up in a middle-class family at the beginning of the Meiji period. After an extensive education in English, Chinese, and Japanese literature, Soseki taught English at the University of Tokyo. In 1907, he gave up teaching to devote himself to writing and produced many books, including Botchan, The Three-Cornered World, and Mon. He died in Tokyo in 1916.
