School Bulletin

On the Death That Transcends the “Meiji Spirit”: A Study of Natsume Soseki's Kokoro

Speaker: Professor Huo Shian

Huo Shifu is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Foreign Studies, Xian Jiaotong University. He has published more than 50 papers in prominent journals such as Foreign Literature, World Literature, Contemporary Foreign Literature, Foreign Literature Studies, and Foreign Literature Review. He has led three National Social Science Fund projects, one Ministry of Education project, and two provincial-level social science research projects. He has received three third prizes for Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences at the provincial level (including two for papers and one for a monograph). Under his guidance, students have won first prize twice in national undergraduate thesis competitions. His research focuses on Japanese literature, including the works of the 1994 Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe, Haruki Murakami, and Abe Koubou, as well as world literature and comparative literature. His work further extends to the dissemination and influence of Lu Xun’s literature on modern Japanese literature.

The characteristic of Meiji literature lies in its pursuit of the meaning of the“self”, while also incorporating the intertwined destinies of the individual and society, the individual and the state. Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro (1914) is a representative masterpiece embodying this trait. The work appears to depict the junshi (ritual suicide) of General Nogi and the “Sensei” across different generations. However, its essence lies in revealing, through individual tragic fate, the hidden perils concerning the nation's future behind the slogans of civilization and enlightenment, a wealthy nation with a strong army, and leaving Asia for Europe during the Meiji Restoration. Early authoritative views in Japanese academia argued that Kokoro“in a sense, consistently establishes a binary structure of morality and self, love and friendship, trust and distrust, in a form that unites the government and the people, setting it as the ‘correct’ paradigm for interpretation.” Influenced by this perspective, Cao Ruitao pointed out: “In ‘Sensei’s’ heart, what truly mattered was the ‘Meiji spirit’ embodied by the Meiji Emperor. It carried his most precious hopes and aspirations. As long as the Meiji Emperor lived, there remained a glimmer of possibility for their realization, no matter how faint. But the Meiji Emperor eventually passed away, and with him, the ‘Meiji spirit’ vanished. To continue living, for ‘Sensei,’ held no more meaning. Thus, the only path left was to commit junshi for the ‘Meiji spirit’.” This view clearly remains confined to the stale, established perspectives in Japan and has yet to achieve any new breakthroughs. This paper argues that the junshi of “Sensei” is a negation and subversion of General Nogi's junshi. It is a junshi performed to transcend the “Meiji spirit.”

Lecture Time: November 13, 2025 (Thursday) at 14:00

Lecture Venue: School Conference Room, 5th Floor, Building of Western Learning, Chang'an Campus, Northwest University

We warmly welcome all teachers and students to attend!