Ready Reference Treatise: Kokoro

By Raja Sharma

“Kokoro” by Natsume Soseki was first published in 1914. The novel was originally published as a serial in the Japanese newspaper ‘Asahi Shinbun.’

The title “Kokoro” literally means ‘heat,’ but it can also have many different meanings. It can also be translated as ‘feeling’ or ‘the heart of things.’

The novel describes in great details the transition from the Japanese Meiji society to the modern era. The story is presented through the exploration of the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls ‘Sensei’ or ‘teacher.’

Isolation is the central theme of the novel and it continues to be developed from the preceding works of the author.

The book also deals with the themes of guilt and egoism. The changing times, the changing roles and ideal women, and intergenerational change in values, the role of family, and importance of the self versus the group, the cost of weakness, and identity are some of the major themes in the novel.

Ready Reference Treatise: Kokoro
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jun 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311743312

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Kokoro

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Kokoro

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

Kokoro by Natsume Soseki was first published in 1914. The novel was originally published as a serial in the Japanese newspaper ‘Asahi Shinbun.’

The title Kokoro literally means ‘heat,’ but it can also have many different meanings. It can also be translated as ‘feeling’ or ‘the heart of things.’

The novel describes in great details the transition from the Japanese Meiji society to the modern era. The story is presented through the exploration of the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls ‘Sensei’ or ‘teacher.’

Isolation is the central theme of the novel and it continues to be developed from the preceding works of the author.

The book also deals with the themes of guilt and egoism. The changing times, the changing roles and ideal women, and intergenerational change in values, the role of family, and importance of the self versus the group, the cost of weakness, and identity are some of the major themes in the novel.

The author basically deals with the psychological and ethical problems which the Meiji era intellectuals had to face. They were dedicated to the Confucian doctrine but they were compelled to reconcile their Confucian dedication to the public with the individualism imported from the West.

Even during the lifetime of Meiji, the individualistic tide of thought had emerged in the society presented in the novel.

Sensei is the melancholy and tortured character. Through his character, the author demonstrates the alienation and guilt that the author had personally felt from his separation from the traditional ethics of Japan. The author struggled to find a solution while he was writing the present work.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The novel presents the early 20th century Japan. The narrator of the novel is a university student. While studying at