The vagueness of wisdom and the inconsistencies of prejudice

 

English edition.

Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki.

Oh oh, this didn’t age well at all, didn’t it?

After a couple of misgivings with other books I can safely guess I have become pricklier with time and at the same time I think that with reason. So here is the thing: women. You get used to reading uncomfortable accounts and sexist comments, fantasy views of the mysterious figure that women represent; and many times, you can separate the peas in the dish, as a form of saying. A lot of books can be worthy of the effort, you can take on account the time, place and whatnot. Sometimes you can’t, at least I can’t. I found it impossible with this book.

Let´s see, at first you think: oooooh! I have heard about macho culture in Japan and this book was written in 1914, so the demeaning concept of women is not a big surprise, but as you uncomfortably go on… something is off, very off. You have a young man, the protagonist, that states how until that point in his life, his interactions with women had been completely null and then goes to say some judgement of character in women (maybe he read that in the back of a book, hu?). It becomes a pattern, as you keep reading you see the form that permeates the narration: dumb prejudice. Oh, don’t be like that! Remember the time and place. Yes, but the defining aspect is how sloppy it is handled. It is supposedly a book of depth and profound meaning: it is stated in the back and the blurb. It talks about the bromance with sensei and how wise and illuminating he is, but as the back of book, sensei´s wisdom is mentioned only, you can’t find a single thing in the book that shows this wisdom. The protagonist´s scholarly self-regard is also mentioned and at the same time, his actions are those of a spoiled brat and further on, sensei himself reveals as another spoiled brat. There is no crime in that, but the narration relies heavily in the abyss that is the character and intellectual capacity (lack of in this case) of woman and the protagonist´s super duper wisdom. It isn’t even needed, you know? It is not that you wouldn’t understand an interaction or conflict without the prejudice, but if you remove it, the actions remain off as well.

The protagonist does something, assigns a demeaning characteristic to women and then proceeds to do the most childish things and somehow, we are supposed to think of them as wise and thoughtful. The smart men pout, are petty, passive aggressive, scream uncontrollably and oh, so sensitive… but women are childish and emotional. Is this a joke or something?

Regarding the main conflict.

Spoilers.

The solitude and guilt of sensei, well… one can cry comfortably about the ugly secrets you have with money, no need to work, a beautiful and kind wife and an epic bromance. So sad. Ok, now I am being petty, but come on… He has punished himself all his life retiring from everything, but he never takes responsibility for his actions, leads on his wife with bland excuses, has a stable marriage throwing now and then vague self-defeating comments, but receives the love, attention and care of his wife and then his bro. He goes on saying how he doesn’t want to spoil the party for his wife, but he DID marry her after “the event”. So, the great torment that leads to his demise… meh.

End of spoilers.

Unpopular opinion (unless this is a very undercover irony): Self-indulgent and lazy.

Extra note. There is something roaming around in my mind still, it is undeniable that the author has a fine sensibility to voice some thoughts and a detail that I found puzzling was that there are certain comments made that point towards the lacking and hypocrisy of the main characters, it almost felt like a wink; even the not subtle at all homoeroticism of the bromance has a clear standing. Like peeling the onion of certain moments in life, of cultural character. It doesn’t change the outcome, sadly.