The novel of Natsume Soseki – „I Am a
Cat” is a great satire, the first person narrative, which with the cat’s eyes has its
own outlook on life. The novel was published in 1905 and 1906 and
consists of three volumes.
The setting of the book reflects the Meji Era, so
important for Soseki due to its constant changes and modernization, the flow
towards Western culture, modern times, violation against simplicity and
decadence, archaism Japan
lived in for so long.
A cat, is an unusual cat, he doesn’t
have a name, it makes him a mysterious, intriguing figure, a figure one would
like at first to meet, examine, and determine, no matter how much one wants, it
is impossible, the cat is the cat – unbounded.
He sees and judges, he has a
perception of everything, literature, world, life, wisdom, what is wrong and
right. His observations are amusing, funny, wit, intelligent and cunning. One
may try, however, will never be able to outsmart the cat.
The book opens with an introduction
of a cat … the cat may be perceived as “an unknown person”
PL“…Jestem
kotem. Imienia jeszcze nie mam: Nawet nie wiem, gdzie się urodziłem…”
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ENG “… I Am a Cat. With no name: I
do not know where and when I was born …”
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How important is it to know …? Extremely,
the cat is searching, he doesn’t want to discover his own identity, it doesn’t matter ….
It amuses him, what doesn’t, though, are the changes (of society) he observes.
The cat carefully analyzies the life
and behavior of the family of the teacher called Mr. Sneaze, what he notices
are the discourses about life, the westernization of Japan, love, the places they want to see just for one day … boredom.
PL
- “ … Ten bezdomny kociak wciąż włazi i włazi.
Co go wyrzucę, znów wraca do kuchni. Już mam tego dosyć! – Mówi
urażona gosposia.
-
“Niech zostanie” – odparł gospodarz.
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ENG
-
“ … The stray kitty keeps coming back all the time. I throw it out,
not a second passes it comes into the kitchen on and on” – The maid
complained.
-
“Leave it!” – Mr. Sneaze replied.
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Why did the cat return? Well, the
answer seems to be very easy, it needs to belong to someone, anybody … home
gives him a shelter, a place where he learns things, understands wisdoms, lives
and is left alone, often forgotten of, because, “ …it is always around…”.
The time is passing by and the cat
becomes familiar with all the members of the house...
PL “… Zakradam
się bowiem czasem do jego gabinetu i widzę, że po prostu przesypia całe
popołudnia…”
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ENG „…Not often I used to see Mr. Sneaze. However,
once I entered his study, I noticed he slept all afternoon, right in front of
his opened books…”
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The cat sees intimacy, something no
one else is right to see, the cat is silent, almost unnoticed, he enters rooms
in most (in)appropriate moments, like a ghost or an intruder. For that reason the
cat is omnipresent, he sees and hears everything, he is not surprised of an
inch by hearing about disappointments, relationships… .
Everything has got a right
place. With no exception. A cat person symbolizes - freedom, disobedience, loneliness, and the
notion to be in or outside a particular society, a circle which closes its
doors for “outsiders” – for those who sees, thinks, perceives differently or at
all.
The cat mocks from the family, its
imperfections, its attempts to follow up others, to be better, more intelligent,
more precise…
PL “…Gospodarz
(…) rozpoczął rysować moją kocią
sylwetkę. Zdążyłem się już wyspać i teraz okropnie chciało mi się ziewać.
Lecz gospodarz rysował z takim zapałem, dlatego nadal leżałem cierpliwie…”
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ENG “…Mr. Sneaze uninhibited by
the joke of his colleague started sketching my posture. I was well-rested and
ready to yawn, yet, he did it so attentively, I decided to stay still …patiently
waiting till the end…”
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The narrator doesn’t understand this
rush, he sees it is for nothing, no matter how many goods "they" have, how well-off “they”
become, sooner or later it all will be left behind. Namely, new, better
things appear, start being in fashion, and then, what about people? One will be
out and the other in-fashion, simply, like objects … .The cat wonders. Understands that this is what people call westernization, the flow of values and virtues. Or
perhaps, prioritization.
The conversations are vivid, the
intellectual, middle-class family of Mr. Sneaze is not so intellectual as He
would like it to be … these are just false
appereances of what they want to become, but, never will … due to “lack of
intellectual capacity, wisdom and wit thinking”.
ENG “… (…) He is so
preternaturally stupid that he can’t even distinguish between a madman
and a normal person. Not only that, but after he has given himself the
heartache and excruciating mental torment of considering lunacy as an
intellectual problem, he finishes up by dropping the matter without reaching
any conclusion whatsoever. He lacks the brain power to think through a
problem. Any problem. In any field…”
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Soseki shows, or rather tries to
show the reader the diversification of classes, no matter how intellectual someone wants to be – more useless the efforts are.
Truly,
the upper class in Meji Era was useless, shallow, it was a shame! It didn’t represent
a profound notion of “reason, knowledge, education”. Soseki criticizes the
scholar class, portrays selfishness of people.
The role of the cat as a narrator is
very important, the cat-person stands for the literary genre “I-novel”, the
narrator accepts and rejects the teacher’s theories, some of them are so
surreal that almost impossible to think of. Soseki shows us a novel which prizes
Western philosophical tradition and Japanese religious, archaic, basic one, two
contraries unite.
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