Der Bergmann

A young man, torn between two women, flees from his wealthy parental home. He is desperate and weary of life, drawn into darkness. In search of a way to disappear from the world, he finds it by committing to work in a coal mine. The harsh life underground becomes a turning point - he, who longed for darkness, realizes within it that life is worth living. Even before James Joyce or Marcel Proust, Natsume Soseki meticulously describes the perceptions and thoughts of a youthful antihero. 'The Miner' is a dense, elegantly narrated novel that reflects the image of a Japanese society grappling with itself and modernity at the turn of the century through the lens of a single existence. I am very happy to have this novel, which is over a hundred years old, today.