I read through some of your site, your writings on learning Japanese, your impressions of Natsume Soseki. I thoroughly enjoyed it. When you have the mental space for it, I think it would be worth revisiting Kokoro. I read it again this year, after doing so in high school about 7 years ago, I felt I understood sensei's perspective as I felt kinship with the protagonist at that time. Perhaps you might feel the same.
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balckwell
1 week ago
messing around with my list of books again. to fit the theme, i renamed the categories CANONICAL WORKS, DEUTEROCANON, and APOCRYPHA, and re-sorted many works to better reflect their canonicity
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balckwell
3 weeks ago
new essay, THROUGH THE EYES OF A CAT, a study of the protagonists in Natsume Soseki novels
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balckwell
1 month ago
new FEATURE: my author overview of HERMAN MELVILLE, which includes almost all of his fiction
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emilynhoward
1 month ago
Benito Cereno is well worth reading. I, not being a fiction or a US lit scholar, haven't read as much Melville as I should. I appreciate the overview.
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after exorcising my youtube demons last week, i immediately recorded a video lecture about "kubla khan"... and where else am i supposed to post it? https://youtu.be/DnCZ55Dofgc
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balckwell
1 month ago
new essay NUMBERS ON THE SCREEN, about what it feels like to post on platforms such as youtube or substack
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balckwell
1 month ago
second annual edition of the BALCKWELL ROUND-UP in which i collect a bunch of fragments that never went anywhere and let them loose upon the world
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emilynhoward
1 month ago
"Being thrilled is simply not enjoyable to me" God, somebody finally said it. What is this obesession with having your nervous system tweaked to the edge of collapse all the time?
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Thanks for reaching out. I'm taking a short break from Soseki, but Kokoro is definitely next on the list. It's funny; I remember almost nothing from my initial reading (it coincided with a very full time of my life) but I'm sure it'll be one of those cases where once I start reading, it will all come flooding back to me.