Natsume Soseki, the Japanese literary genius of the 20th century,has written Kokoro(1914),a nonpareil novel in which he has shown the clash between modern and traditional values of Japan. Soseki in Kokoro (1914) has told us the story of 'Meiji period (1868-1912) that was affected by the advent of modernization (Fukuchi,1993). If we have a look in the past, we can get a clear pictureof it. Like most of Japanese, Sensei,the protagonist of Kokoro(1914), andnarrator's father cannot welcome the modernity with warm hands.They are unableto break the shell of tradition. A lot of problems raisedin Japan due to its becoming modern from feudal system. Science and technology dominates Japan and snatchesaway mental peace from the life of Japanese.This picture is portrayed in Kokoro(1914) by Soseki in a very subtle way.In this article,an attempt is made to lay some key events of this nonesuch novel of Natsume Sosekib are in order to expose the reality of the then Japan.
Keywords: Natsume Soseki,Meiji period, Modernization, Feudal system.
28-Feb-2025
