Sanshirō

Sōseki's work of gentle humour and doomed innocence depicts twenty-three-year-old Sanshirō, a recent graduate from a provincial college, as he begins university life in the big city of Tokyo. Baffled and excited by the traffic, the academics and – most of all – the women, Sanshirō must find his way amongst the sophisticates that fill his new life. An incisive social and cultural commentary, Sanshirō is also a subtle study of first love, tradition and modernization, and the idealism of youth against the cynicism of middle age. In his introduction, Haruki Murakami reflects on his fascination with Sanshirō, how the story differs from a European coming-of-age novel and why it has come to be a perennial classic in Japan. This edition also contains suggestions for further reading, notes and a chronology.