“We are being dragged deeper into the real world, which I define as the world that contains trains. Nothing can be more quintessentially representative of twentieth-century civilization than the steam train. It roars along, packed tight with hundreds of people in one box, merciless in its progress, and all those hundreds crammed in there mustContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The Steam Train Representative of Twentieth-Century Civilization (Natsume Sōseki)”
Tag Archives: RKS Japanese Literature
RKS Japanese Literature: Suffering the Result of Attachment (Natsume Sōseki)
“While we live in this world with its daily business, forced to walk the tightrope of profit and loss, true love is an empty thing, and the wealth before our eyes mere dust. The reputation we grasp at, the glory that we seize, is surely like the honey that the cunning bee will seem sweetlyContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Suffering the Result of Attachment (Natsume Sōseki)”
RKS Japanese Literature: The Lack of Beauty of Western Food (Natsume Sōseki)
“Not a single Western food has a color that could be called beautiful-the only exception I can think of are salad and radishes. I’m in no position to speak of its nutritional vale, but to the artist’s eye it is a thoroughly uncivilized cuisine. On the other hand, artistically speaking, everything on a Japanese menu,Continue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The Lack of Beauty of Western Food (Natsume Sōseki)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Eyes Blinded by Worldly Passions and the Artist (Natsume Sōseki)
“I suppose you could say that the artist is one that lives in a three-cornered world, in which the corner the average person would call “common sense” has been sheared off from the ordinary four squared world that the normal inhabit. For this reason, be it in nature or human affairs, the artist will seeContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Eyes Blinded by Worldly Passions and the Artist (Natsume Sōseki)”
RKS Japanese Literature: The Journey and its Poetic Component (Natsume Sōseki)
“While we are on our journey, shod in our straw sandals as of yore, we may do nothing but grumble about its hardships from dawn to dusk, but when we come to tell the tale to others, we will never make a murmur of such complaints. No, we will speak smugly of its fascinations andContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: The Journey and its Poetic Component (Natsume Sōseki)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Where Art and Poetry are Born (Natsume Sōseki)
“If you work by reason, you grow rough-edged; if you choose to dip your oar into sentiment’s stream, it will sweep you away. Demanding your own way only serves to constrain you. However you look at it, the human world is not an easy place to live. And when its difficulties intensify, you find yourselfContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Where Art and Poetry are Born (Natsume Sōseki)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Painting the Flesh Without Spirit (Sōseki Natsume)
“I keep using the word expression” Haraguchi went on, “but an artist doesn’t paint what’s inside, he doesn’t paint the heart. He paints what the heart puts on display. As long as he observes everything in the display case, he can tell what’s locked up in the safe. Or we can assume that much, IContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Painting the Flesh Without Spirit (Sōseki Natsume)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Young Japanese Men with Literary Power in their Hands (Sōseki Natsume)
“No one with a brain in his head can stand here in the centre of the intellectual world and be indifferent to the violent upheavals going on before his eyes. We young men are the ones who hold today’s literary power in our hands, so we have to take the initiative to make every word,Continue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Young Japanese Men with Literary Power in their Hands (Sōseki Natsume)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Empty Headed Japanese University Students (Sōseki Natsume)
“The students who flocked to Berlin to hear Hegel’s lectures”-this fellow was obviously a great admirer of Hegel-“were not driven by ambition. They did not intend to exploit the lectures to qualify themselves for making a living. No, they came because their hearts were pure. They knew only that a philosopher called Hegel transmitted fromContinue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Empty Headed Japanese University Students (Sōseki Natsume)”
RKS Japanese Literature: Japanese Pecker Nationalism Falls Flat! (Akiyuki Nosaka)
“What the hell are you doing? You’re numbah one, aren’t you? Come on. Show the American. That huge thing is the pride of Japan. Knock him out with it! Scare the shit out of him! It was a matter of pecker nationalism: his thing had to stand, or it would mean dishonour to the race.Continue reading “RKS Japanese Literature: Japanese Pecker Nationalism Falls Flat! (Akiyuki Nosaka)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 