{"product_id":"the-threecornered-world-isbn-9781805332503","title":"The Three-Cornered World","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn artist on holiday at a mountain hot spring becomes fixated on a mysterious local beauty in this Japanese classic.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature.” – Haruki Murakami\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the foundational classics of modern Japanese literature, this profound, meditative novel about repressed longing and aesthetic rapture shows legendary Japanese writer Natsume Soseki at his very best.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA nameless young artist travels into the mountains, in search of the refreshments of nature. Staying at a small hot spring hotel, he soaks in the water and takes walks nearby, always with the intention of painting - though he never seems to get around to actually doing so. Instead, he finds himself transfixed by the daughter of the hotel owner, an enigmatic young beauty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis preoccupation is neither romantic nor sexual, but aesthetic: why is he so drawn to O-Nami's changeable face, now hostile, now serene? And what prevents him finally putting brush to paper and painting her picture? As the holiday goes on, these two circle each other, pursuing barbed yet friendly conversations about art and despair. And the more he learns about her life - a divorce, a rumoured entanglement with a local priest, a cousin in the army about to travel to the Manchurian front - the more he comes to realise that experiencing O-Nami's beauty to the full requires not just gazing upon her, but understanding her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLushly poetic and stunningly sensitive, \u003ci\u003eThe Three-Cornered World\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterful exploration of the beauty of nature, the artist's temperament, and the hidden springs of human sympathy.\u003cb\u003eNatsume Soseki\u003c\/b\u003e (1867-1916) was one of Japan's most prominent novelists of the Meiji Era. After studying in England on a government scholarship, Soseki taught English literature at Tokyo University, but the immense success of his satirical novel \u003ci\u003eI Am a Cat\u003c\/i\u003e led to his own career as a writer. A highly influential figure viewed as the father of modern Japanese letters, from 1984 until 2004 his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1,000-yen note. Pushkin Press publish several of his major novels, including \u003ci\u003eKokoro\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Gate\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlan Turney\u003c\/b\u003e (1938-2006) was a British translator who also rendered Natsume Soseki’s novel \u003ci\u003eBotchan\u003c\/i\u003e into English.","brand":"Pushkin Press Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48532211106021,"sku":"NP9781805332503","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781805332503.jpg?v=1773183077","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-threecornered-world-isbn-9781805332503","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}