明暗 Author Natsume Sōseki Ebook ´ 397 pages Ð Insolpro

Kindle 明暗 Author Natsume Sōseki

明暗 Author Natsume Sōseki Ebook ´ 397 pages Ð Insolpro ò ➷ [Reading] ➹ 明暗 By Natsume Sōseki ➬ – Insolpro.co.uk Published in 1917 Light and Dark is unlike any of Natsume Soseki's previous works and uniue in Japanese fiction of the period What distinguishes the novel as modern Published inLight and Dark is unlike any of Natsume Soseki's previous works and uniue in Japanese fiction of the period What distinguishes the novel as modern is its remarkable representation of interiority The protagonists Tsuda Yoshio thirty and his wife O Nobu twenty three exhibit a gratifying complexity that ualifies them as some of the earliest examples of three dimensional characters in J 375 starsMan's original sin is his ego such is Sōseki Natsume's main theme of the unfinished novel Light and Dark Meian 1917 who considered that egoism is the deep rooted origin of all evils proliferating like a weed in the rush of modern existence Sōseki's 'Meian' characters are ordinary Meiji people living ordinary but claustrophobic daily lives utterly self absorbed plagued by pettiness and selfish desires; provoked to constant streams of verbal and psychological battles emphasizing the flaws of marriage love and interpersonal relationships Sōseki laid bare the human failings of pride self love and disingenuousness in his novel that is fundamentally about perception a study in human relations a satire of the artifices of the Meiji period He plied his characters with the darkness of selfishness abject isolation insincerity distrust egoism; contrasting those with the lightness of hope self awareness truth revelation authenticity visualizing a illuminating human condition At the heart of Light and Dark are Yoshio and O Nobu Tsuda a young educated and middle class couple recently married and considered to be happy In exploring YoshioTsuda's and O Nobu's characters the peripheral cast are treated similarly Sōseki tested the binds of marriage as well as the flexibility of their love or the suffocating effect of it Tsuda takes the stage in a plot that turns out to be disappointingly spare of action and as the title suggests holds a full spectrum of contrasting images He is made to be sick spiritually as well as physically opening the story with the need for surgery to remove a 'growth' An unlikable man he embodies the typical male of the period in the old fashioned treatment of his modern wife Tsuda's egoism springs from an Old World background he views himself highly his right to live a lofty lifestyle and have the freedom to pursue his own desires are solidly planted Men of old with an immovable sense of duty never allowed themselves to be smitten Tsuda regards his wife's complete attention to his personal comfort as his entitlement He sees no need to be honest or giving in his relationship with O Nobu Sometimes he attempted to mollify her At other times he felt rebellious and wanted to escape In either case he was always aware at the back of his consciousness of a feeling that amounted to disparagement I can't be wasting all my time with a woman like you I have things to do for myself O Nobu is a modern woman of the day She falls in love with Yoshio baffling and marries him almost immediately She considers herself as 'mistress to her own affairs' aiming to prove her worthiness and determined to make her marriage a success a conviction obviously challenged by the stark reality of her marital unhappiness and her failure to recognize her own egocentric actions as contributing factors Her struggle to understand and connect to a man like Tsuda is a concern that plagues most relationships O Nobu found herself thinking of Tsuda as a self centered man Despite the fact that she extended to him from morning to night what she intended to be the fullest extent of kindness and consideration she was capable of was there no limit to the sacrifice her husband reuired Is a husband nothing than a sponge who exists solely to soak up a wife's tenderness The novel is a yin and yang minefield complex of a read than expected unprepared as I was at the time I slugged through it Undeniably Sōseki possessed the masterful brushstrokes for exuisite imagery and subtle illusions keeping true to his Zen aesthetics His portrait of nature full of beauty and harmonious relationships that are at once asymmetrical and yet maintain a balance attracted me to this book Admittedly my own flawed vision blurred Light and Dark for me it was leaden with ambiguities and overshadowed by vague dialogue Its slow moving narrative and insufferable cast fail to clearly bring to light the deeper concepts recessed in the plot An unfinished work due to the untimely death of the author Light and Dark abruptly ended unsatisfyingly Surely Sōseki's intent was to bring a resolution for O Nobo and Yoshio a compromise based on the knowledge of oneself a realization of one's own limitations and the letting go of ego the translator is unsure of the nature of the illness only that Tsuda needs surgical repair In any case the allegorical setting is laidFans of Japanese Literature would still enjoy this work which needed much patience than I possessed although by the time I reviewed it I suppose I came to appreciate it better Light and Dark represents Sōseki’s effort to put in perspective through his uniue approach to fiction the rapidly changing dynamics of Japanese society and culture during the Meiji period 1868–1912 of a well ordered society rushing too uickly toward a modernized Japan Sōseki saw the erosion of fundamental truths as expressed in traditional Japanese myth and Zen Buddhist teachings as well as fundamental truths of the human condition In his works Sōseki constructed fictional characters to articulate his belief that modernization is necessary for Japan’s survival but when it occurs too uickly such change is unhealthy and threatens individual happiness Sōseki viewed that slower movement over time and space was critical to human development and the attainment of happiness