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[flemmings]

So why, with a plethora of enticing books to choose from, must I decide to devote my day off to another stab at Soseki's Sorekara? Especially when I disliked the (plump, smooth, valetudinarian, 'oh my poor high-pitched nerves and subtle sensibilities') protagonist so much when I first met him in translation a quarter of a century ago (sob)? I can

Comments

[takumashii]

I was so impressed with myself for making it all the way to the end of Kokoro, and then I found an essay saying, essentially, Mori Ogai and many of the other Meiji writers are hard, but even elementary school students can read Soseki -- to which I could only think, THANKS (with a certain gritted-teeth sarcastic tone.) But indeed he's not that bad, except for how quickly vocabulary was coming into use and falling out of use.

[flemmings]

Way back in third year Japanese the local infant prodigy (a first year with homestay Japanese and a year in Japanese HS) was reading Kokoro. He reported that Boku's sections were a piece of cake, and then you got to Sensei's part OMG....

Judging by what gets published *for* elementary school kids, me, I doubt that essay's statement just a tad.