Skip to main content

December 9, 1916

 

Natsume Soseki was a Japanese writer; he died on December 9, 1916. The quality of his novels lead to him being ranked among the greatest writers. His face was on a yen note until 2004. This regard is earned and he should have a larger English audience. Even through a translation, the imaginative effort to understand what the world looks like from a foreign viewpoint is apparent in his 1905 story, "I Am A Cat." This eponymous feline is dissuaded from clawing books and so has...a "new sport" which is to:

"hunt praying mantises. Mantis hunting is not as strenuous as rat hunting, but neither does it involve so many hazards...After seeing one, I rush it as fast as the wind. The mantis, sensing danger, will raise its head...Mantises are rather bold...[Their] wings are only there for ornamental purposes...like the study of French and German for humans...Having wings sounds wonderful but actually those of the mantis only drag the owner along the ground as it walks. I often feel sorry for my prey but as it is essential for my exercise, I simply beg its pardon and run after it all the more."

Maybe you need a longer excerpt, but I recommend finding the book.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

May 27, 1564

  May 27, 1564 John Calvin, a Protestant theologian who argued for predestination, was fond of his wife's cat,"Henriette." His wife and his wife's cat died in the same month, and according to J. Stephen Lang, author of 1,001 Things You Always Wanted to Know about Cats, Calvin did not get another wife or another cat. John Calvin died on May 27, 1564.

Cotswold Lions

Below I copied today's post to www.cat-lovers-almanac.blogspot.com.  Mostly I forget to use this forum to expand on the philosophical element often in my cat posts. One interesting thing about Harington is he puts the loss of learning from the 16th century to the present, in perspective. Also, Harington seems to occupy a place as one of the originators of an emphasis on the individual as important per se. From the post below you will recall that he included personal details about himself,  in his translation of Orlando. And had to defend himself for this.  The recent post about Augustus Toplady is another example of where we could/should expand on the philosophical. That guy was astonishing. And his debating Wesley about free will. I will get back to that but what Toplady saw, was that BOTH free will and determinism were present for a person. Hard to discuss that. And you can see (not in my post) how John Wesley totally missed the point. He (Wesley) takes the cheap road o...

Always lovable from au Carole Bayer Sager [mangy cat ref]

http://nickanvil.blogspot.com/ [][]][[[[] You're Moving out Today - YouTube https://www.youtube.com › watch Lyrics I stayed out late one night and you moved in I didn't mind 'cause of the state you were in May I remind you that it's been a year since then Today the landlady, she said to me (what did she say?)… Full lyrics Source: Musixmatch Lyrics: You're Moving Out… Carole Bayer Sager - Smule Smule https://www.smule.com › song › arrangement You're Moving Out Today by Carole Bayer Sager - Karaoke Lyrics on Smule. | Smule Social Singing Karaoke app. ... Your mangy cat away. Your baby fat away