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context: literature > modern
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Natsume Soseki
1867-1916
Soseki is widely regarded as Japan's greatest modern literary figure - but he wrote fiction for only his last eleven years. In 1887 he met Masaoka Shiki, who encouraged him in writing haiku. I Am A Cat and Botchan, his second and third novels, remain hugely popular now. His social and psychological probing has immense depth and insight and intelligence (there were few contemporary writers worldwide to rival him in these ways), so every conversation is fascinating.