Botchan Master Darling eBook Soseki Natsume Yasotaro Morri
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Botchan Master Darling eBook Soseki Natsume Yasotaro Morri
This is a curious little story, narrated by a young graduate sent to a remote town to teach in the early 20th century.Our hero is prone to 'hereditary recklessness'; his deceased parents had feared for his future and only his old servant Kiyo appreciated him. Over the pages we start to see that he does indeed have an intrinsically fine character, but is naive in the ways of the world. As he himself says:
"I am different from, and nobler than, these manure-smelling louts. The only pity is that I am rather short of tact; that I do not know what to do."
Faced with insolent pupils and duplicitous fellow-teachers , Botchan starts to learn something of the world. He sees things as they are: for example when the principal, in true Japanese style, gives a speech criticising himself for his students' misbehaviour, Botchan observes:
"If the principal was willing to assume all responsibilities, saying it was his fault or his lack of virtues, it would have been better stop punishing the students and get himself fired first."
I quite enjoyed this book, but it was hampered by a truly dreadful translation. Having read the translator's introduction, I was prepared for dated American slang renderings of colloquial Japanese. But I felt this had been translated by someone for whom English was very much a second language. This was a free download but it may be worth paying for the more recent translation.
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Botchan Master Darling eBook Soseki Natsume Yasotaro Morri Reviews
- and there's no age limit.
Botchan, our protagonist, is his own worst enemy. Proud of his "honesty", he is hopelessly unable to recognize the same trait in others (or its absence).
Somehow being certified as a middle-school teacher, he takes a job in a small town far from his native Tokyo. Finding himself to be a very large round peg with no hope of fitting into the small square hole, he manages to alienate all he meets.
A short tale of the universal frailties of man, this is amazingly funny. The group of players exhibit all the stereotypical qualities needed to make this, on the surface, merely a farce. Deeper insight into the Japan of more than a century ago will come when you stop laughing.
I teach American kids on an American base in Japan. This is not the 8th-grade-wide read that I was hoping for. This was described to me as something that all Japanese read in their youth and that it was about a blunt young city college boy, Botchan, who took a middle school math teaching job in Shikoku, the smallest of the four main Japanese islands. I was hoping for something like Tom Sawyer, a youth classic, in a modern translation so that it would be an easy enough read for 8th graders, easier than Tom Sawyer's 1876 language, but finally a book that was set in Japan and rich in Japanese culture for these kids who find themselves here.
It was written in 1906 and to me, it is largely a comedy of manners. Yes, it is about the narrator's attempts to make moral judgments of the teachers around him, but somehow I felt like I was skittering over the surfaces of the contrasts described. The moral conflicts weren't big enough, or weren't resolved, as I expected or wanted them to be. I still wanted more justice by the end than a mere hooligan thumping of Redshirt, Botchan's oily foe and the lead teacher on staff.
At the end, there was no sense of change. I got the sense that Redshirt, once his wounds healed, would be exactly where he wanted to be, in his same position of power, able to influence control over the new hires, and ready to woo the local beautiful girl "Madonna" now that her refined fiance Botchan nicknamed "Hubbard Squash" has been sent away. He could probably even keep up his secret relationship with the geisha now that his two accusers, Porcupine and Botchan left town, resigning from their jobs in Shikoku.
So this is the big moral novel of Japan? A secret physical fight but you leave intact all of the underlying power structures and injustice? You don't even damage the oily nemesis's reputation by spreading the story before you leave town?
I was disappointed. I don't think that my 8th graders will pick up on the social nuances that he was negotiating. I think that the experiences of this college grad are too far removed from my students' 13 years of life on earth. I still have to find a great young adult novel for 8th graders set in Japan that will learn cultural values from and enjoy. I have to find a good book that doesn't irk the kids who have Japanese mothers by misrepresentation or by not being "cool" or good enough to represent half of their home culture.
When I bought this novel, I also bought the bargain Tuttle version Botchan (Tuttle Classics) translated by Umeji Sasaki but I liked this translation better and read this one. I was trying to find a cheap edition that I could afford to buy a 100 copies out of pocket. What I didn't like about this version was that this is a private publishing job taking advantage of the fact that copyrights must have gone to the public domain. I didn't realize that "CreateSpace" meant private publishing, like lulu. I couldn't figure out why the editing was so poor "he wanted to many her" instead of "marry her" and lots of basic editing mistakes of that nature. Maybe it was from a poor scan or amateur retyping of the original. I couldn't figure out why they didn't list who the translator was anywhere in the edition either so then I wondered if the translator's rights had not gone into public domain. I ended up looking at the first pages online of all the other editions of Botchan trying to figure out who the translator was. I finally found it in the kindle version I bought for $2.99 BOTCHAN - MASTER DARLING [Annotated] The translator is Yasotaro Mori and the translation was done back in 1918. I think that whenever you see a CreateSpace or other private publisher listed for Botchan at with no translator mentioned, the translation is probably Yasotaro Mori's. The first pages showing of Botchan (Master Darling), for example, are Yasotaro Mori's beginning, even though the translator is not mentioned. The annotations are very poorly done. They let the annotations fall where they may when they splayed the text out with new pagination. Footnotes fall in the middle of the page, usually. The cover of this book, while bright and appealing to 8th graders, has nothing to do with its contents besides showing that it is set in Japan. The main character has no romance, and is not wed. The couple on the cover are in traditional shinto marriage garb. I kept wondering where the romance that would lead to such a wedding would start.
If anyone has recommendations for great young adult novels set in Japan (preferably by Japanese), please post replies.
The translation could be better, but if you can look past the clunky way this story proceeds in English, Botchan is reminicient of The Apprenticeship of Wilhelm Meister. It is a brief story of a newly graduated native of Tokyo, sent to the province to be a schoolteacher. Throughout his time in the small town where he is teaching, he comes against deception and moral issues from the other teachers, the principal, sometimes, the students and even his landlord. Botchan is of a impetuous, hot-headed and honest nature so clashes and bangs around but comes up happy at the end.
Part of the reason I am reading Japanese literature is to help me develop a prequel to my novel, Ten Yen True, which is set in Japan
Botchan is an interesting and deep look at Japanese life through the eyes of a young man who for a while teaches in a small town. It is witty, creative, and keeps you wanting to read even though it is not a page turner.
It explores human relationships, and though it is clearly Japanese culture, it gives much insight into the human condition. It is a deep look at human communication, competitiveness, mean-spiritedness, and the effects of gossip and misunderstandings which are universal in scope. Not to mention small town life can be stifling for some.
Very reflective. Occasional difficulty with translation, but all in all a great read.
This is one I would read again.
This is a curious little story, narrated by a young graduate sent to a remote town to teach in the early 20th century.
Our hero is prone to 'hereditary recklessness'; his deceased parents had feared for his future and only his old servant Kiyo appreciated him. Over the pages we start to see that he does indeed have an intrinsically fine character, but is naive in the ways of the world. As he himself says
"I am different from, and nobler than, these manure-smelling louts. The only pity is that I am rather short of tact; that I do not know what to do."
Faced with insolent pupils and duplicitous fellow-teachers , Botchan starts to learn something of the world. He sees things as they are for example when the principal, in true Japanese style, gives a speech criticising himself for his students' misbehaviour, Botchan observes
"If the principal was willing to assume all responsibilities, saying it was his fault or his lack of virtues, it would have been better stop punishing the students and get himself fired first."
I quite enjoyed this book, but it was hampered by a truly dreadful translation. Having read the translator's introduction, I was prepared for dated American slang renderings of colloquial Japanese. But I felt this had been translated by someone for whom English was very much a second language. This was a free download but it may be worth paying for the more recent translation.
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