Open AccessI Am a Cat
Author(s) -
Natsume Sōseki
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
zea books
Language(s) - English
DOI - 10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1310
Subject(s) - creatures , meiji period , art , literature , history , pseudonym , art history , theology , philosophy , archaeology , natural (archaeology)
This English version of 吾輩は猫である (Wagahai-wa neko de aru: I Am a Cat), Chapters I and II, written by Natsume Sōseki, pseudonym of Natsume Kinnosuke (1867–1916), and translated by Kan-ichi Ando (1878-1924), was published by Hattori Shoten, Tokyo, in 1906.It begins: "I am a cat; but as yet I have no name." Its sardonic feline narrator describes his origins, his settlement in the household of a Meiji teacher-intellectual, and the goings-on and conversations among the cats and humans about the neighborhood. Of the men he concludes: "They are miserable creatures in the eyes of a cat.Japanese novelist Natsume Sōseki studied literature in England and became professor at Tokyo Imperial University. The success of his stories, beginning with "I Am a Cat," launched a successful career that produced 22 novels, including Botchan, Kokoro, and Light and Darkness.