ARCHIVED IN-PERSON EVENT - Japan Society Book Club: Ten Nights’ Dreams by Soseki Natsume
Date
Monday 13 February 2023
Time
7.00pm
Venue
The Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP
Booking Details
Free for Japan Society Members
Book available from Waterstones, Amazon, and Book Depository
Japanese version available here
The activities of the Japan Society are made possible thanks to the support of its members. This event is free of charge and open to all. We realise that this is a difficult time for many people. However, if you are planning to attend and do not have a membership subscription as an individual or through your employer, please consider making a donation. You can find details of membership and how to join the Japan Society community here.
Ten Nights' Dreams is a series of short pieces by Sōseki Natsume. It was serialised in the Asahi Shimbun from July 25 to August 5, 1908. Sōseki writes of ten dreams set in various time periods, including his own time (the Meiji period) and as far back as the "age of the gods," and the Kamakura period. Four of the ten dreams begin with the phrase "This is what I saw in my dream" (こんな夢を見た Konna yume o mita). Whether Sōseki actually had these dreams or whether they were complete fictions is not known.
This famed collection of ten connected stories or dreams has a surrealistic atmosphere. Some are weird, others are grotesquely funny leitmotifs and antipodes such as: loyalty and treatise, love and death, fame and immortality, social outsiders, honour and loss of face, desperation and hope, are all covered.
The author, Soseki Natsume, is a novelist and scholar of English literature. He ranks with Mori Ogai (1862-1922) as major figure in modern Japanese literature. Among his works, Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (I am A Cat) and Bochan (Master Darling) are especially known to almost every Japanese and are read even by primary school pupils.
If you have any questions, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.
Booking Info
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