Sōseki abroad

       The Asahi Shmibun reports that Meiji-Taisho Era novelist Soseki becoming trendy across the world 100 years later -- and, indeed, new translations of several of his works have come out in English in recent years (most notably Light and Dark last year). But it's also neat to hear that, for example:

Soseki's masterpiece serial novel Kokoro (Heart) has been newly published in 10 languages, such as Arabic and Slovenian, since 2001.

       I am, however, not quite sure what to make of the fact that:

Another reason for the growing popularity of Soseki overseas is that Murakami cites him as his favorite author.

       They also report on the recent symposium held at the University of Michigan, Sōseki's Diversity (which included a keynote speech by Portrait of a Tongue-author Tawada Yoko !), which sounds pretty interesting.

       Other Sōseki works under review at the complete review are:

• Botchan
• The Gate
• Inside my Glass Doors
• Kusamakura