The Three-Cornered World

Natsume Soseki – with an introduction by Damian Flanagan. Translated from the Japanese by Alan Turney

The Three-Cornered World has been cherished by generations of readers as a
glittering jewel in the crown of Soseki´s artistic achievement. A painter escapes to a
mountain spa to work in a world free of emotional entanglement, but finds himself
fascinated by the alluring mistress at his inn and, inspired by thoughts of Ophelia
by Millais, he imagines painting her. The woman is rumoured to have abandoned
her husband and fallen in love with a priest at a nearby temple, but somehow the
right expression for the face on the painting eludes the artist . . .
Beautifully written, humorous and filled with bitter-sweet reflections on the human
condition, The Three Cornered Worldwas intended as a unique ´haiku-novel´ with
a mood utterly different to anything ever produced in the West. Demonstrating
along the way a mastery of everything from Western painting to Chinese literature,
Soseki succeeded in creating an artistic tour-de-force.

´Vastly refreshing . . . Soseki doesn’t shrink from seeking and finding exquisite
pearls of beauty.’ – Guardian
‘A writer to be judged by the highest standards. His works create, after the fashion
of all great writers, a new and completely individual reality.’ – Spectator