The Theory of Literature and Other Critical Writings

Natsume Soseki, widely held to be Japan's greatest modern novelist, infact began his career as a literary theorist and scholar of English literature. In1907, he published Theory of Literature, a remarkablyforward-thinking attempt to understand how and why we read. Soseki would latercritique Theory of Literature as an unfinished work, but thetext remains an unprecedented achievement, anticipating by decades the ideas andconcepts that would form the critical foundations of formalism, structuralism,reader-response theory, cognitive science, and postcolonialism.Employing the cutting-edge approaches of contemporarypsychology and sociology, Soseki created a model for studying the consciousexperience of reading, as well as a theory for how the process changes over time andacross cultures. By insisting that literary taste is socially and historicallydetermined, Soseki was able to challenge the superiority of the Western canon, andby grounding his theory in scientific knowledge, he was able to claim a universalvalidity.Along with Theory of Literature,this volume reproduces a later series of lectures and essays in which Sosekicontinued to develop his theories& -some of which have never beforebeen translated into English. In addition, the editors of the book provide acritical introduction contextualizing Soseki's theoretical project in history andexploring its contemporary legacy.

Acknowledgments Introduction: Natsume Soseki and the Ten-Year Project Part One: Excerpts from Theory of Literature Preface Book 1: Classification of Literary Substance Book 2: Quantitative Change in Literary Substance Book 3: The Particular Character of Literary Substance Book 4: Interrelations Between Literary Substances Book 5: Group F Part Two: Other Writings on Literary Theory, 1907-14 "Statement on Joining the Asahi" "Philosophical Foundations of the Literary Arts" "Preface" to Literary Criticism "The Merits and Flaws of -isms" "My Individualism" Notes Index