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The Miner
The Miner (Japanese: 坑夫, Hepburn: Kōfu) is a 1908 novel by Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki. The novel recounts the story of a young man who begins working in a mine following a failed relationship, with extensive attention paid to his perceptions, both at the time of events and in retrospect as a mature adult. It was translated into English in 1988 by Jay Rubin.[1] Critically panned at the time of publication, The Miner has since been reassessed for its literary innovation.[2] PlotIn The Miner, the 19-year-old protagonist decides to flee his hometown of Tokyo after his relationship falls apart.[2] He encounters a grotesque figure who specializes in recruiting cheap labour, and is persuaded to work in a copper mine.[2] The story follows his journey towards and descent into the mine.[2] The protagonist's perceptions and later reflections are described in great detail, such that a "split-second of visual clarity" is accorded three pages of analysis.[2] The protagonist does not get along with the other "animalistic" miners, but eventually meets an educated individual who is, like himself, fleeing from a failed relationship. This miner convinces him to return to his former life.[2] The novel ends with the protagonist emerging from the mine.[2] Outside the mine, he remarks on the beauty of a flower and the ugliness of the miners. He then visits a clinic for a mandatory examination, and is reminded of human mortality by the scent there. He passes the same flower and no longer finds it beautiful, nor does he find the miners ugly:[2]
BackgroundThe Miner began serialization on 1 January 1908 in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.[2] The novel's setting was suggested to Sōseki by a man who worked in the Ashio Copper Mine following his own romantic problems. The man visited Sōseki and insisted on selling his story as the basis for a novel.[2] Apart from these basic plot elements, the novel was, according to Jay Rubin, a "direct result of [Sōseki's] continuing exploration of his own internal landscape."[2] Sōseki took twelve pages of notes from the man. The first two-fifths of the book are based on story material from the first half-page of these notes, and this is the novel's most unconventional section. The remainder of the story follows the notes more closely.[2] When interviewed about the novel, Sōseki said, "I am not so much interested in events themselves as in laying bare the truth behind them."[2] He chose to narrate the novel retrospectively because it allowed him to thoroughly analyze the protagonist's actions and motives.[2] Rather than focusing on the cause-and-effect relationship between events, he was curious about the discrete elements composing each event.[2] Sōseki said that "people lacking such intellectual curiosity will not find it much fun."[2] ReceptionThe reception of contemporary critics was universally negative, and the work was judged "undeniably inferior".[2] The Miner, which followed two other critically panned works (Nowaki and The Poppy), was perceived as a confirmation of Sōseki's decline as a writer.[2] Halfway through serialization, a collection of articles on the novel was published in the Chūōkōron magazine. None of the critics, including a devoted Sōseki fan who had enjoyed all of his previous works, had anything positive to say.[2] One critic commented, "You'd think that Sōseki was some kind of antique dealer, the way he attaches a certificate of authenticity to everything in the novel."[2] Some modern critics have reassessed the work for its experimental value.[2] Jay Rubin, who translated it into English, regards The Miner as Sōseki's "single most modern work, an antinovel that set him at the very forefront of the avant-garde in world literature."[2] Rubin attributes the reception of Sōseki's contemporaries to the novel's focus on perception rather than plot or character.[2] Beongcheon Yu has asserted that The Miner has no thematic connection to Sōseki's other works.[2] In contrast, Rubin sees The Miner as a turning point in Sōseki's view of the average human being — from an evil "other" to an unreliable "self" — that persisted in his later works.[2] Shin'ichirō Nakamura viewed The Miner as an early example of stream of consciousness fiction, though Rubin considers this characterization inaccurate because of the retrospective, rather than immediate, narration.[2] Haruki Murakami has two characters discuss the book in his novel Kafka on the Shore.[3] References
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