Botchan (Penguin Classics)

"Botchan" means Young Master and carries the same mix of affection and condescension as the English term. We never find out the narrator and protagonist's real name, only the moniker his family's loyal maid uses. Like Soseki himself, Botchan is the unfavored son of an old and pedigreed Tokyo family who leaves the capital for a teaching position at a middle (i.e., high) school in a castle town in the boondocks. (Though never named, the town is unmistakably Matsuyama, a Shikoku city known for its castle and hot springs.) Though Botchan describes his youthful self as a hellraiser, he is unprepared for the rural thugs he is expected to teach, some of whom are bigger than he is and all of whom are ruder. Even more problematic are his colleagues at the school, who are almost without exception a bunch of lying schemers. Will Botchan make it through the school year without falling into cynicism and despair? Doubtful, but his humor and Tokyo determination egg him on: "To give up at this point would have been a disgrace....If people were to hear that I allowed this pack of snot-nosed brats to make a fool of me...I would never live it down. I'm not made of the same stuff as those peasants were, of that you can be sure."Sometimes described as "The Catcher in the Rye" of Japan, "Botchan" predates it by half a century yet seems fresher and still modern 112 years years after its publication. It's also very funny--in fact, it reminded me of Kingsley Amis's "Lucky Jim," surely the gold standard of the academy novel. While it suffers from an abrupt and unsatisfying ending, it's worthwhile for anyone interested in Japanese literature, or modern Japan generally.

Botchan is the most famous novel in modern Japanese history. Natsume Soseki's picture on the 1000 yen note is an enduring testament to its endurance as a national treasure. I'd read I Am A Cat and subsequently Kokoro (The Heart of Things). Reading translated works, one is necessarily at a disadvantage, but my introduction to Soseki's work through the superb translation by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson, even the hilarious and uncredited preface, gave me a generous sense of the eloquence, intuitive depth and boundless wit of Soseki. Edwin McClellan did the beautiful translation of Kokoro, a much deeper, darker work, and I'd known Mr. McClellan's fine work already from his translations of Yasunari Kawabata. I read Yasotaro Morri's translation of Botchan a couple of weeks ago, and was unfortunately and more than occasionally aware of the clunky, awkward and stiffly humourless style. I enjoyed the book, despite the poor translation. A friend led me to the Penguin Edition's version, translated by Joel Cohn, for which he's won a major award. I knew I was in good hands when I was laughing out loud on Page One, fully evocative of Soseki's proto-pompous self-effacing and thoroughly Anglophile richness of rhetoric. So much better.

My son introduced me to the work of Natsume Soseki with Ito & Wilson's translation of "I Am a Cat"--I laughed all the way through it and was left wanting to read more of Soseki. Like O'Riley, I bought Morri's translation of "Botchan" and settled down for another great read....but it wasn't great. I'm no literary critic, but I couldn't slog my way through more than about six pages of the Morri translation. It was clunky, stilted, seemed to betray a less-than-thorough familiarity with the idiomatic English that might best be used to express Soseki's tale.So, I bought the Kindle edition of the Penguin version of "Botchan" on the strength and specificity of O'Riley's comments: Love it and highly recommend it! J. Cohn is a superb translator and it makes all the difference!

Laughed out loud! I choose this book for the non-Western category’s a 2020 reading challenge. So glad I did! The characters are so well-written. I felt at home in a totally different culture!

Charming and enjoyable read. Pretty quick and easy going through it but there are points throughout the book that you could just sit and think on. The naive perspective and light humor of Botchan was fresh and his position was pretty relatable. Planning on looking into other books by Soseki.

A lovely book qbout a young teacher from Tokyo, who goes to gather his first working expererience to a school in the countryside. I love how the author describs him and his narrative voice, which is passionate and righteous. He's starting to get to know the world, the people and their characters, and this book is a lovely read.

great book. Soseki is one of the greatest Japanese authors. This book is about young, honest Japanese men, who learns what life is like. Kinda reminds Catcher in the rye.

Interesting pre-war character observations

Good

Botchan is surrounded by idiots in a backwater fishing village, but he fights back with style. A humorous take on the teaching profession. Though published in 1906, this hasn't dated a bit and is one of the great novels of the 20th century.

This book,despite being written over 100 years ago,is still so fresh & crisp that the joy of reading becomes a memorable experience. This was my first experience of reading Natsume Sōseki & I’m already delighted! Botchan is a rock star!!

Soseki was until recently the undisputed literary giant for readers in his homeland. Botchan is nevertheless a slight piece, and one imagines Soseki would have been surprised that his little novella ever received the reverence accorded by reviewers and critics since its publication. Essentially the work is to be categorised as 'young schoolmaster's journey to self awareness - failed', which is part of an extensive canon. Botchan thinks he knows everything, is full of bluster coming from his superior upbringing and his innate authoritarianism, and is a bit of a prat who doesn't engage the reader's sympathy. If nothing else, this undemanding read acts as a valuable reminder of the extraordinary range of Soseki's writing. This rather slight work would never have survived on its own without the rest of the corpus.

Great read. Not only was it comical but also gave you a glimpse of the culture and time period with nice descriptions. Recommended for those who are interested in reading English translations of Japanese writers.