In this blog post, we’ll examine Natsume Sōseki’s novel ‘Heart’, focusing on its background, structure, the protagonist’s psychology, and various interpretations.
Overview and Structure
‘Heart’ is a full-length novel that followed ‘The Wayfarer’ and was serialized in the ‘Asahi Shimbun’ in Tokyo and Osaka from April to August 1914. At the time, the work was acclaimed for its thorough exploration and critique of egoism. Before beginning the serialization, Natsume Sōseki had selected several stories to publish under the title ‘Heart’, but since the first installment, “The Teacher’s Last Will,” turned out to be unexpectedly long, he ultimately published only that single work under the title ‘Heart’ on September 20, 1914, through Iwanami Shoten. When it was later republished as a standalone book, the entire work was divided into three parts, each given the subtitle “My Teacher and I,” “My Parents and I,” and “My Teacher and the Last Will.”
A unique aspect of this work is that it features two protagonists named “I.” The psychological depictions, unfolding through the protagonists’ voices, are extremely detailed and candid. The “I” in “My Teacher and I” and “My Parents and I” is a pure-hearted and down-to-earth college student—a young man with the innocent perspective of someone who has not yet fully entered society. As such, even at his father’s deathbed, he does not succumb to deep pessimism and tends to view the surrounding scenery and characters in a relatively positive light; here, we can fully appreciate Natsume Sōseki’s wit and satire.
In contrast, the “I” at the center of “My Teacher and My Will” embodies the traits of a Meiji-era intellectual—excessively pure and incapable of compromise. This section primarily revolves around regret and anguish over his own stubbornness, and the scene where he reflects on the life he has led just before his death is heavy and dramatic. Although there is a temporal and spatial distance from 1910s Japan, it evokes a universal sentiment: that in one’s final moments, anyone might find themselves weighing the good and the evil within the memories that have filled their life and making a confession. It is a deeply human confession that reveals, with unparalleled honesty, the inner thoughts one could never otherwise voice.
The Protagonist, the Ending, and Various Interpretations
Through ‘Heart’, we are exposed to a deeply personal story—one stripped of all pretense—that we might never hear in our entire lives. The only regret, however, is that the protagonist, “I,” a recent college graduate, fails to stay by his father’s deathbed until the very end, boarding a train bound for Tokyo and never reappearing in the novel thereafter. It is left to the reader to imagine what the protagonist must have been feeling after meeting the teacher he had longed to see again and learning about the teacher’s past, which he had been so eager to discover.
Another interpretation emphasizes that the narrator becomes a decisive actor from the moment the suicide note is delivered. Faced with a choice between his critically ill father and the teacher, the narrator chooses the teacher without hesitation. This not only proves that the teacher trusted and chose the protagonist enough to write a suicide note addressed to him, but also implies that a new phase has begun in the relationships between the father, the family, and the protagonist by abandoning his father in such a critical situation. However, after the scene on the train heading to meet the teacher, the narrator—“I”—does not reappear in the novel, and this structural choice makes the novel’s ending feel quite unsettling.
There is also a notable perspective that interprets this work as queer literature. Japanese psychiatrist Takeo Doi pointed out the scene where the narrator, a young student, is drawn to the teacher upon meeting him at Kamakura Beach, and there is also an argument that the narrator’s gaze directed at the Western man who was with the teacher can be read as an obsession with the man’s physique. The narrator’s daily waiting at the tea house the teacher frequents, picking up and returning the teacher’s dropped glasses while following him, and swimming out into the sea—these actions can be interpreted as a series of steps to approach the object of his interest. Above all, the relationship between the teacher and K creates a sense of unease for many readers, leading to strong arguments that the novel is homosexual in nature.
However, the translator believes it is more appropriate to understand the characters in this work not merely through the binary of same-sex and opposite-sex attraction, but rather through the structure of attraction, psychology, and conflict between “human” and “human.” By focusing on the subtleties of emotion and the conflicts that arise between people—rather than on gender distinctions—one can get closer to the core message this work seeks to convey.
To add another personal observation from my translation experience: unlike ‘Young Master’, ‘Heart’—true to its title—was not an easy text to read and translate, as it requires following the story deep into the inner self. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, because it is a human confession that, while seemingly unique, is ultimately something everyone harbors, this work will leave a lasting impression on anyone who takes the time to slowly savor each sentence.
