GajimaruClassics.
I Am a CatOn the coverCats Suggested as the Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, c. 1848
I Am a Cat
A supercilious, unnamed housecat observes the follies of his schoolteacher owner and a parade of pretentious visitors, in Sōseki’s sly, digressive satire of Meiji middle-class life, narrated entirely by the cat.
Character notes and context for the chapter you’ve read.
A witty, meandering, one-of-a-kind satire narrated by the most supercilious cat in literature, skewering human vanity with feline disdain. Funny, clever, and utterly charming.
SettingMeiji-era Japan, 1900s
Meiji-era Japan racing to modernize, its anxious new middle class aping Western manners and ideas, observed with cool amusement from the cushion by the hearth.