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LEGEND

❖ Testable topics and materials
◊ Other topics and materials
✓ To be completed by class time

On powerpoints, this means "testable page":


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Session 03—Tu, Jan 24: Natsume Sōseki and his Kokoro (1914) Session 1

Topics for this session

❖ Natsume Sōseki—biography
❖ Natsume Sōseki—Ten Nights of Dreams (1908)
❖ Natsume Sōseki—Kokoro (1914)

Thoughts*

Kokoro is one of my favorite books that we read. I love its honesty or its total lack of it, I'm not sure which. Sōseki is a deep thinker, but can be very dark. The supplementary readings and multimedia are to bring that aspect a bit more forward.

Required reading to be completed for today's session

Assignments are listed on the "Deadlines" page, not here.

✓ Read the first two of the three segments that make up Kokoro: "Sensei and I" and "My Parents and I".

Texts, multimedia notes, links*

❖ Natsume Soseki WJ bio segment [bSpace, m4v]
❖ Natsume Soseki [bSpace, PPT]

Other*

◊ A very good 2003 biography of Sōseki by Petri Liukkonen, with an extensive list of further reading in English: Petri Liukkonen
◊ McClellan's full online English translation of Kokoro (same translation as used in class): Kokoro
◊ A zip file of an old English translation of Sōseki's famous Botchan, from Gutenberg Project: Botchan

*THOUGHTS: Reading before class probably helps follow session content, reading afterwards might help consolidate notes, revisiting for tests is recommended. Content might be added before class or anytime up until about 24 hours ahead of a midterm.

*TEXTS, MULTIMEDIA NOTES, LINKS: If I have read from something, shown something or presented audio, I usually include that information here. If I consider it testable material, it will definitely be listed here. Miscellaneous material that I show may or may not be listed. I often add material at the last minute and hope to have time later to note it, but often cannot.

*OTHER: When possible I note here names, places, and other details that I have mentioned in a lecture that would otherwise not be accessible in the assigned materials or easily located on your own. As with "TEXTS ..." this is usually sometime after class and, again, I might not be able to get around to doing it.