The essence of the Meiji man: an approach to Kokoro by Natsume Sôseki
Abstract
Taking into account the context of the Meiji era (1868-1912) and the changes it produced within Japanese society at that time, this article seeks to address the novel Kokoro (こころ, 1914) by Natsume Sōseki (夏目漱石, 1867-1916) with the aim of demonstrating, first, what is that kokoro that the work seeks to unveil before the eyes of its readers and which in this paper we identify with the «essence» of the Meiji man; secondly, we seek to identify the mechanism used in the text to elucidate it, the key to which is found in a series of specular games between the main characters of the work. We argue that this process ends with a potential extratextual instance depending on the approach that each reader makes to the novel and whose ultimate purpose is to establish a dialogue and to question the ideals of its own time.
Downloads
Article download
Crossmark
License
In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Mirai. Estudios Japoneses is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.
