I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki / Review

 

I Am a Cat
by Natsume Sōseki

From Hello Kitty and Doraemon to the works of Haruki Murakami, Hayao Miyazaki and Yukio Mishima, felines have long been a key figure in the Japanese imagination.

Angela Carter and Natsume Soseki / Finding oneself at home

Angela Carter

Finding oneself at home

Both Angela Carter and Natsume Soseki found new insights into their respective homelands when living abroad. Caryl Phillips reflects on the role of the writer as 'outsider'

Caryl Phillips

Saturday 21 January 2006 01.35 GMT

T

wenty years ago I first visited Toronto. I was attending my first literary festival, and the invitation had arrived by way of my London publisher. Initially, I was sure my publisher had made some terrible mistake and that the invitation was intended for one of its more illustrious authors. Unless I was misreading the letter, the proposal was that I be presented with a free round-trip air ticket from London to Toronto, housed in a grand five-star hotel for a week, paid a generous daily stipend, taken on a variety of outings to places such as Niagara Falls, and furnished with invitations to various parties and dinners celebrating myself and my fellow authors. In exchange for this largesse, I would be expected to read from one of my two novels for a mere 20 minutes and, incredibly enough, for this reading I would also be paid an additional fee. Such was my initiation into the world of literary festivals.