I Am a Cat

I Am a Cat

Cover of the 1906 English translation
Author	Natsume Sōseki
Original title	Wagahai wa Neko de Aru(Ngô bối は miêu である)
Translator	Aiko Ito andGraeme Wilson
Language	Japanese
Genre	Satirical novel
Publication date	1905–1906
Publication place	Japan
Published in English	1961 byKenkyusha
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
ISBN	978-0-8048-3265-6
OCLC	49703480
LC Class	PL812.A8 W313 2002

I Am a Cat(Japanese:Ngô bối は miêu である,Hepburn:Wagahai wa Neko de Aru)is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 byNatsume Sōsekiabout Japanese society during theMeiji period(1868–1912), particularly the uneasy mix ofWestern cultureand Japanese traditions.

Sōseki's title,Wagahai wa Neko de Aru,uses a veryhigh-registerphrasing more appropriate to a nobleman, conveying grandiloquence and self-importance. This is somewhat ironic, since the speaker, ananthropomorphizeddomesticcat,is a regular house cat of a teacher, and not of a high-ranking noble as the manner of speech suggests, an example of Sōseki's love fordrollwriting.

The book was first published in ten installments in theliterary journalHototogisu.At first, Sōseki intended only to write the short story that constitutes the first chapter ofI Am a Cat.However,Takahama Kyoshi,one of the editors ofHototogisu,persuaded Sōseki to serialize the work, which evolved stylistically as the installments progressed. Nearly all the chapters can stand alone as discrete works.

Plot summary

InI Am a Cat,a supercilious, feline narrator describes the lives of an assortment of middle-classJapanese people:Mr. Sneaze( "sneeze" is misspelled on purpose, but literally translated fromChinno Kushami(Trân dã khổ sa di),in the original Japanese) and family (the cat's owners), Sneaze's garrulous and irritating friend Waverhouse(Mê đình,Meitei),and the young scholar Avalon Coldmoon(Thủy đảo hàn nguyệt,Mizushima Kangetsu)with his will-he-won't-he courtship of the businessman's spoiled daughter, Opula Goldfield(Kim điền phú tử,Kaneda Tomiko).

Cultural impact

I Am a Catis a frequent assignment to Japanese schoolchildren, such that the plot and style remain well-known long after publication. One effect was that the narrator's manner of speech, which was archaic even at the time of writing, became largely associated with the cat and the book. The narrator's preferredpersonal pronoun,wagahai,is rarely-to-never used in real life in Japan, but survives in fiction thanks to the book, generally for arrogant and pompous anthropomorphized animals. For example,Bowser,the turtle-king enemy in manyMariovideo games, useswagahai,as doesMorgana,a cat character inPersona 5.

Adaptations

The novel was first adapted into a film released in 1936. The film's setting was moved to the end of WWI and the ending was changed to be less nihilistic. Later, prolific screenwriter Toshio Yasumi adapted the novel into a screenplay, and a second film was directed byKon Ichikawa.It premiered in Japanese cinemas in 1975. Ananimetelevision special adaptation aired in 1982. It was also adapted into a manga by Chiroru Kobato in 2010 and translated into English byZack Davisson.

External links

• (in Japanese)Full text(KyūjitaiandHistorical kana orthography) atAozora Bunko
• (in Japanese)Full text(ShinjitaiandModern kana usage) atAozora Bunko
• (in English, translated by Kan-ichi Ando, 1906) (pdf)I Am a Cat, Chapter I & Chapter II (English, 1906)
• I Am a Catpublic domain audiobook atLibriVox(excerpt)
• Soseki Project(resources for reading Sōseki's works in their original Japanese form)

Adaptations

• Wagahai wa neko de aru(1936)atIMDb
• I Am a Cat(1975)atIMDb
• Wagahai wa neko de aru(1982)atIMDb
• Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (1936at theJapanese Movie Database(in Japanese)
• Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (1975)at theJapanese Movie Database(in Japanese)
• Wagahai wa Neko de Aru(1982)at allcinema(in Japanese)