John Nathan provides a lucid and vivid account of Natsume Soseki, the father of the modern novel in Japan. This biography elevates Soseki to his rightful place as a great synthesizer of literary traditions and a brilliant chronicler of universal experience who, no less than his Western contemporaries, anticipated twentieth-century modernism.
In 1961, John Nathan arrived in Tokyo, armed only with determination and minimal connections. At that time, Japan was still influenced by the Occupation, and few foreigners were studying the country in depth. Within two years, Nathan became the first American to pass the entrance exams for the prestigious University of Tokyo. He went on to translate works by renowned authors Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburō Ōe, direct films in collaboration with notable directors, and earn advanced degrees at Harvard and Princeton. His book, The Private Life, provided unprecedented access to Sony's inner workings, while Japan Unbound examined the psyche of post-bubble Japan. Throughout his journey, Nathan formed close friendships with influential figures across various fields, gaining insights into aspects of Japanese life typically closed to outsiders. In his memoir, Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere, he recounts his adventures—both sublime and chaotic—during a transformative era in Japan. With humor and insight, Nathan shares his unique experiences, highlighting the richness of understanding Japan and the importance of exploring both external and internal landscapes. His narrative stands as a deeply personal and extraordinary account of a life engaged with Japan.
In 1970, at the age of forty-five, Kimitake Hiranka, known as Yukio Mishima, was a preeminent Japanese writer, having produced forty novels, eighteen plays, and numerous volumes of short stories and essays. That November, he executed a meticulously planned ritual suicide, marking a horrifying yet inevitable climax to his life—a life characterized by a relentless pursuit of beauty. John Nathan’s biography delves into Mishima’s troubled childhood, dominated by a sickly grandmother who instilled in him a longing for an irretrievable past, alongside a mother whose jealousy and a father’s opposition shaped his ambitions. It explores his early fixation on purity and beauty, leading to a later embrace of erotic nihilism, and the tension between his conventional life as a husband and father and his homosexual and sadomasochistic tendencies. Ultimately, it reveals his growing obsession with death as both a dramatic act and a form of ultimate beauty.