I Am a Cat: A Novel

The novel-essay I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume is considered a milestone in contemporary Japanese literature. In it, we have a glimpse of Japanese life at the early part of the twentieth century as seen by a cat. This cat, the narrator, one day meets a tragic death by drowning in a rainbarrel. Before his untimely end, however, the cat describes his life in the home of a weak-stomached and stupid English teacher and his discontented wife. He tells us about Mrs. Nose, the possessor of a big nose and the wife of the businessman Kaneda, as well as about several of the schoolteacher's friends; a carefree aesthetic, a scientist who does nothing but polish glass balls, an eccentric follower of the Zen doctrine, and a young office clerk. Kushami, the English teacher, has many other such interesting visitors to his home, and the cat observes these characters with shrewdness and unique insight... The author's sophisticated style is instrumental in making him one of the most popular Japanese writers.