Today I finished reading Natsume Soseki's Kokoro.
It's a shame to say that it's the first time I've read Mr. Natsume Soseki's famous book.
He is recognized as one of the writers who represent the peak of modern Japanese literature, and his head was once printed on the yen note. Mr. Natsume Soseki to the Japanese may be a bit like Mr. Lu Xun to us. The selected articles are in the textbooks. Every Japanese who has gone to school has to contact his works.
Why is this book called heart? When the book was first published in 1914, Mr. Natsume Soseki wrote a sentence for the pre-sale advertisement in person:
"I would like to recommend this work to those who want to know their own heart.".
What are literary classics?
After reading for so many years, I think that the story will never be just the story of the other or a certain era. The story will always be read to itself, because what they discuss is the general predicament of mankind.
Who can't read from Madame Bovary that ability can't keep up with desire? Who will not rethink how to spend his life after reading the moon and Sixpence? Who hasn't found that the different views of mate selection in Pride and prejudice can still be reflected in reality?
The same is true of heart. I feel dull at first reading, but the more I think about it, the more I see the depth of human nature.
01
A simple and shocking suspense story
The novel heart is divided into three parts: "my husband and I", "my parents and I", "my husband and my letter".
"Mr. and I" are talking about the college student "I" on vacation alone in Kamakura seaside. When I met Mr. when I was bored, his unique temperament immediately attracted "me": he was like an independent person, coming and going aloof every day. No matter how busy he was around, he didn't show much interest.
From the beach to pick up a conversation, the two people have more and more contacts. "I" often visit my husband, and gradually begin to eat at his home. Later, I even get close to each other, and even get dirty clothes to wash for my wife.
However, with the deepening of communication, Mr. Wang is more and more like a mystery to me.
First of all, his attitude is very strange.
"I" and Mr. familiar, Mr. attitude and at the beach when first met and did not change much, always light, from time to time to reveal a cold attitude and lack of human words. But it can't be said to be estrangement. My husband welcomed me. He also clearly said, "I'm a lonely person, so I'm very glad you're here."
Secondly, he graduated from Imperial University of Tokyo with excellent knowledge, but he lived in isolation, didn't communicate, didn't go out to work, and only read and thought at home.
Many of Mr. Wang's old classmates have become celebrities. "I think it's a pity that his name is not known by the world because of his knowledge and thought. But my husband said that he was not qualified to take the initiative to intervene in society.
Third, on one day of each month, Mr. Wang would go to zasi Valley alone to sweep the tomb of a deceased person, which has not been the case for many years. But who the dead were and why they had to go to the grave every month were very secretive.
Fourth, he seems to be moderate, but he has some fierce views, such as "love is evil", such as "when you see money, any gentleman will become a bad man immediately".
Fifthly, the husband clearly loves his wife and is a rare good husband, but there seems to be something between them, and the wife can't figure out what's wrong. I only know that my husband is pessimistic and does not believe in anyone, including all the people in the world, including his closest wife and himself.
But what happened in the end would make a person who would have a bright future pessimistic and abandon himself so far?
My parents and I are talking about my family affairs. After I graduated from University, my father was in critical condition, and the situation could change dramatically at any time. Therefore, I was delayed in my hometown and temporarily had no direct contact with my husband in Tokyo.
My father and mother worried that there was no one around him when they were dying, and they were worried that I had not found anything to do after graduation, so they urged me to write to my husband to help me find a job. I wrote a letter with a stiff upper lip.
My husband didn't reply, but he sent a telegram saying that he wanted to see me. But at that time, my father's illness went from bad to worse, and I couldn't leave home at all, so I had to write a long letter to explain and apologize. Mr. Wang sent a telegram saying that it was OK not to go, but he didn't mention the job search.
But after a while, I received a very heavy and long letter.
It's a letter from my husband. He committed suicide.
Before he died, he spread out his life to "me" and solved all the mysteries himself.
There are too many mysteries in Mr. Wang. As a reader, the last part is almost to finish the sentence in a hurry.