Natsume Kinnosuke (Natsume Sōseki)

Natsume Kinnosuke (1867–1916), who took the pen name Sōseki, was sent by the Japanese Ministry of Education in 1900 to study English literature in London. Experiencing intense psychological isolation and loneliness in Victorian England, he returned to Tokyo Imperial University to succeed Lafcadio Hearn as professor of English.

In 1907, Sōseki resigned his prestigious professorship to become a full-time serial novelist for the *Asahi Shimbun* newspaper. In brilliant comedic satires like I Am a Cat (Wagahai wa Neko de Aru) and Botchan, and deeply tragic psychological masterworks like Kokoro (1914)—examining guilt, egoism, and the tragic suicide of General Nogi at the death of Emperor Meiji—Sōseki defined modern Japanese identity in the crucible of rapid modernization.