Botchan

Botchan has a chip on his shoulder. His elder brother is his parents' obvious favourite and Botchan only receives any attention at all if he misbehaves. After his parents die, Botchan is cut off by his brother and drifts into a job teaching maths in a small provincial town far from the big city.

Thrust into this alien environment, Botchan finds nothing but trouble from his nosy landlord; his students, who delight in tormenting him; and his fellow teachers, each of whom he christens with a sly nickname—Porcupine, Green Squash, Badger, Red Shirt—and others who insist on complicating his life. The result is chaos, told with great wit and irony that make this Soseki's funniest novel.

A modern classic in Japan, Botchan is as widely read today as when it was first published, occupying a place in the canon similar to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Catcher in the Rye. Botchan's coming-of-age quest to navigate the hypocrisy of his peers while remaining true to what is honest and good never fails to capture the hearts and imaginations of readers.

Soseki remains the great master of modern literature in Japan. — Norma M. Field