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The Tower of London: Tales of Victorian London
'The curtain veiling the mysterious things called the past rending itself in two and reflecting ghostly light over the twentieth century is the tower of london.'
In October 1900, a brilliant but largely unknown Japanese scholar arrived in London to commence two years of intense study. The scholar would later become the most celebrated Japanese writer of all time, Natsume Soseki, and produce a dazzling collection of novels, memoirs, criticism and short stories that form the bedrock of modern Japanese literature. The spectacle of a Japanese visitor to Victorian London was a rare one, and Soseki's acute observations contain unique snapshots of London life. Against the backdrop of these images, Soseki develops profound reflections on universal themes. The river Thames is transformed into the river Styx; the Tower of London becomes a gateway to the Underworld; mysterious boarding houses and the spirits of the dead are encountered through relics and memoir; time itself is regained and explored. This new translation provides the perfect introduction to the work of one of the world's greatest authors, accompanied for the first time with a comprehensive critical introduction, and a wry fictional account of a meeting between Soseki and Sherlock Holmes.
271 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1905
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About the author
Natsume Sōseki
890 books3,262 followersNatsume Sōseki (夏目 漱石), born Natsume Kinnosuke (夏目 金之助), was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note. In Japan, he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history. He has had a profound effect on almost all important Japanese writers since.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 23, 2025
Kitabın içinde, Natsume Soseki’nin; On Gece Rüyaları, Tuhaf Ses ve Londra Kulesi öyküleri yer alıyor.
Bu eserlerden ilki ve ikincisini evvelce ‘On Gece Düşleri’ başlığı altında, Japonca aslından Zeynep Gençer Baloğlu tarafından çevrilerek, Africano tarafından basılan kitapta okumuştum.
Londra Kulesi’ni ise ilk kez okuyorum. Çok ilginç bir metin. Öykü, deneme ve anı arasında bir çalışma.
Her iki çeviri de güzel. Çok beğendim.
Bu eserlerden ilki ve ikincisini evvelce ‘On Gece Düşleri’ başlığı altında, Japonca aslından Zeynep Gençer Baloğlu tarafından çevrilerek, Africano tarafından basılan kitapta okumuştum.
Londra Kulesi’ni ise ilk kez okuyorum. Çok ilginç bir metin. Öykü, deneme ve anı arasında bir çalışma.
Her iki çeviri de güzel. Çok beğendim.
October 24, 2020
I found reading the stories by Natsume Soseki interesting and soluble to a query lingering on my mind when I visited the National Gallery in London in July, 1997 and a huge realistic paint in a large room there has indescribably stunned me since then, I mean the one as a black-and-white photo on page 111, that is, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche (1833). Moreover, his description on his experience (p. 109) gave me more light and my query solved after more than a decade.
Reading this book, I think, would help us better understand how Soseki stayed to study in London from October 1900 to December 1902. We may start with any title we prefer from the three headings as follows:
From the Cuckoo (1901-3): Letter from London, Bicycle Diary
From Drifting in Space (1906): The Tower of London, The Carlyle Museum
From Short Pieces for Long Days (1909): Lodgings, The Smell of the Past, A Warm Dream, Impression, Fog, Long Ago, Professor Craig
One of the reasons is that we can read these stories/tales as his firsthand accounts himself, in other words, as told from his direct experiences in which, I think, should be more interesting, reliable and powerful than those written in his biography by his contemporaries or writers in later years. That's why reading this book is worth spending our time, in brief, it's quite important if we need to know a bit more about his academic adventure there as supported by a Japanese government scholarship. We may visualize his adversity, trauma and anxiety that loomed over his life, day in day out, and how about the nights in England? It's a continent apart from his home country, Japan. Therefore, we should admire him with due respects for his perseverance, nobility and scholarship. At last we're delighted to know that he could make it and returned to teach English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University. After that, he started writing some fiction for his old friend with gradual success and fame.
In this book the section on “A Brief Biography” (pp. 36-42) has revealed its readers a lot of detailed information unknown to me till I read this as well as his photo (aged 27) and his future wife Kyoko (aged 18). Then, another section on “Soseki in London” (pp. 43-45) is a compact chronology providing us with more information on his two-year itineraries abroad.
As soon as I finish reading his “Botchan”, I’d read his “I Am a Cat” to see if I can acquire more appreciation there.
End Note: While reading Soseki's narration, we could visualize and understand London and his views/experiences while he's staying to study there as the first Japanese scholar supported by the Japanese government scholarship. Therefore, we can't help feeling sympathetic with him since he needed to live, study and meet people unfamiliar to him in Victorian London a century ago. In fact, for some reason he was a bit reluctant but finally decided to study for two years in England.
Reading this book, I think, would help us better understand how Soseki stayed to study in London from October 1900 to December 1902. We may start with any title we prefer from the three headings as follows:
From the Cuckoo (1901-3): Letter from London, Bicycle Diary
From Drifting in Space (1906): The Tower of London, The Carlyle Museum
From Short Pieces for Long Days (1909): Lodgings, The Smell of the Past, A Warm Dream, Impression, Fog, Long Ago, Professor Craig
One of the reasons is that we can read these stories/tales as his firsthand accounts himself, in other words, as told from his direct experiences in which, I think, should be more interesting, reliable and powerful than those written in his biography by his contemporaries or writers in later years. That's why reading this book is worth spending our time, in brief, it's quite important if we need to know a bit more about his academic adventure there as supported by a Japanese government scholarship. We may visualize his adversity, trauma and anxiety that loomed over his life, day in day out, and how about the nights in England? It's a continent apart from his home country, Japan. Therefore, we should admire him with due respects for his perseverance, nobility and scholarship. At last we're delighted to know that he could make it and returned to teach English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University. After that, he started writing some fiction for his old friend with gradual success and fame.
In this book the section on “A Brief Biography” (pp. 36-42) has revealed its readers a lot of detailed information unknown to me till I read this as well as his photo (aged 27) and his future wife Kyoko (aged 18). Then, another section on “Soseki in London” (pp. 43-45) is a compact chronology providing us with more information on his two-year itineraries abroad.
As soon as I finish reading his “Botchan”, I’d read his “I Am a Cat” to see if I can acquire more appreciation there.
End Note: While reading Soseki's narration, we could visualize and understand London and his views/experiences while he's staying to study there as the first Japanese scholar supported by the Japanese government scholarship. Therefore, we can't help feeling sympathetic with him since he needed to live, study and meet people unfamiliar to him in Victorian London a century ago. In fact, for some reason he was a bit reluctant but finally decided to study for two years in England.
February 4, 2012
This is absolutely essential reading to anyone interested in both Japanese literary theory and Victorian-era London.
. . .okay, don't all rush forward at once now.
I never do plot summaries, but I'll give one here: Soseki was a prominent early twentieth century Japanese writer. From 1900 to 1902, he lived in London studying European literature at the behest of the Japanese government. This relatively short collection begins with a series of letters he penned while in London and progresses through other reflections and essays he wrote at increasing temporal distance and with increasing amounts of fictionalization. Meticulous end notes document what's truth and what's fiction and speculate about why he might have chosen to alter various details. The collection ends with a Sherlock Holmes story by another Japanese author, written in the 50s, which includes Soseki as a character--a sort of natural progression from Soseki's highly altered presentation of events in the latter essays.
The writer in me is fascinated by how the collection's structure documents the process of "write what you know" and shows how truth can be cannibalized for fiction; the historian in me appreciates the rare opportunity to read travel writing by an Easterner struggling to comprehend the mysterious and exotic West, rather than the all-to-common reverse. (Rare in English, anyway; I'm sure it's not rare if one reads other languages, but this sort of account doesn't seem to get translated all that often.) And all of me is sad that this book really doesn't have much of an audience, because it was wonderful reading--if you're interested in some very particular things.
. . .okay, don't all rush forward at once now.
I never do plot summaries, but I'll give one here: Soseki was a prominent early twentieth century Japanese writer. From 1900 to 1902, he lived in London studying European literature at the behest of the Japanese government. This relatively short collection begins with a series of letters he penned while in London and progresses through other reflections and essays he wrote at increasing temporal distance and with increasing amounts of fictionalization. Meticulous end notes document what's truth and what's fiction and speculate about why he might have chosen to alter various details. The collection ends with a Sherlock Holmes story by another Japanese author, written in the 50s, which includes Soseki as a character--a sort of natural progression from Soseki's highly altered presentation of events in the latter essays.
The writer in me is fascinated by how the collection's structure documents the process of "write what you know" and shows how truth can be cannibalized for fiction; the historian in me appreciates the rare opportunity to read travel writing by an Easterner struggling to comprehend the mysterious and exotic West, rather than the all-to-common reverse. (Rare in English, anyway; I'm sure it's not rare if one reads other languages, but this sort of account doesn't seem to get translated all that often.) And all of me is sad that this book really doesn't have much of an audience, because it was wonderful reading--if you're interested in some very particular things.
March 3, 2019
Sōseki’s fascinating meditation on national history, storytelling, intercultural (mis)understanding, and so on is only weakened by Milward’s opening and closing commentaries that feel so much more unfortunately dated than Sōseki’s century-old prose.
January 4, 2011
Oddly enough, I found the part where Natsume visits the Tower of London and fantasises about the past the most boring part of this book. The other parts were great -- I howled at the part where he learns to ride the bicycle. So funny! And I loved the Sherlock Holmes fanfic they included at the end (not written by Natsume, but featuring him as a character). Worthy of Yuletide itself!
I thought it was a pretty good translation, though of course I say this as a non-Japanese speaker. I liked especially the references to historical periods and the figures of speech, similes etc. translated directly from Japanese. Natsume was a really interesting person besides. I know I've got I Am A Cat lying around somewhere at home; I started it and didn't manage to finish it, but I think I'll give it another go.
I thought it was a pretty good translation, though of course I say this as a non-Japanese speaker. I liked especially the references to historical periods and the figures of speech, similes etc. translated directly from Japanese. Natsume was a really interesting person besides. I know I've got I Am A Cat lying around somewhere at home; I started it and didn't manage to finish it, but I think I'll give it another go.
November 18, 2023
Kapağına vurularak aldım doğrusu. Soseki okumayı bir süredir düşünüyordum ve bununla başlamak nasip oldu. Japon yazarlarda sık gördüğüm o tamamlanmamışlık, hislerin insana olması gerektiği geçememişlik ve yüzeysel anlatım hissini bunda da buldum. Belki sorun benim bakışımdadır bilemiyorum ama bu kısa hikayelerin içine de giremedim. Yalnız Londra kulesi hikayesi bir tık ilgi çekiciydi. İngiltere tarihiyle alakalı olayları yeniden canlandırma yoluna giderek farklı işleyiş denemiş yazar.
January 17, 2021
Al principio pense que iba a ser aburrido porque se tira un par de hojas hablando de como es la torre... Pero bueno, cuando se empieza a imaginar cosas es algo mas interesante. Sin más.
June 4, 2023
Canım Natsume. 3 öykü olmasına rağmen adını Londra Kulesi yapmaları mantıklı olmuş. En etkileyicisi zira o. On gece rüyalarını başka bir kitapta okumuştum ama kötü değildi tekrardan ziyaret etmek.
June 24, 2024
In 1900, Natsume Soseki was one of three Japanese scholars chosen by the government to study abroad for two years. This collection, The Tower of London, brings together Soseki's earliest published work. Perhaps even more importantly, this volume is not only superbly translated, but incisively introduced and copiously annotated by Damian Flanagan, who has himself written three studies of Soseki's work as well as that of Yukio Mishima.
From The Cuckoo, here is included Soseki's Letter From London, lonesome and sarcastic, frustrated by the unsympathetic lodgings and landlords; and from the recommendation of exercise to alleviate his fragile mental state at the time, Bicycle Diary, wherein Soseki fails hilariously and constantly. From Drifting In Space, we have the title essay, a chronicle of Soseki's very first tourist stop of his tenure to the fabled Tower. Less a travel piece than a ghost story, we are treated to history but more than occasionally we hear the living voices of those incarcerated centuries ago, caroming back to present-day musings. The Carlyle Museum is another historically embracing and emotionally redolent piece. There are selections from the much later Short Pieces For Long Days (1909), reminiscences of his time in London, and again with such a veneer of the uncanny as to suggest the writing of contemporary horror masters, Thomas Ligotti and Michael Cisco.
One of Soseki's temporary homes was on Baker Street. There is herein appended contemporary Japanese writer, Yamada Futaro's The Yellow Lodger, a speculative tale in which Soseki meets his Baker Street neighbor, Sherlock Holmes. I read a couple of pages cursorily but was much more curious and ultimately satisfied with close reading of Mr. Flanagan's comprehensive and exemplary notations.
From The Cuckoo, here is included Soseki's Letter From London, lonesome and sarcastic, frustrated by the unsympathetic lodgings and landlords; and from the recommendation of exercise to alleviate his fragile mental state at the time, Bicycle Diary, wherein Soseki fails hilariously and constantly. From Drifting In Space, we have the title essay, a chronicle of Soseki's very first tourist stop of his tenure to the fabled Tower. Less a travel piece than a ghost story, we are treated to history but more than occasionally we hear the living voices of those incarcerated centuries ago, caroming back to present-day musings. The Carlyle Museum is another historically embracing and emotionally redolent piece. There are selections from the much later Short Pieces For Long Days (1909), reminiscences of his time in London, and again with such a veneer of the uncanny as to suggest the writing of contemporary horror masters, Thomas Ligotti and Michael Cisco.
One of Soseki's temporary homes was on Baker Street. There is herein appended contemporary Japanese writer, Yamada Futaro's The Yellow Lodger, a speculative tale in which Soseki meets his Baker Street neighbor, Sherlock Holmes. I read a couple of pages cursorily but was much more curious and ultimately satisfied with close reading of Mr. Flanagan's comprehensive and exemplary notations.
April 5, 2022
From 1900 to 1902, Natsume Soseki (then still an academic who only a number of years later would become known as a great writer) spent two unhappy years in London to equip himself for a university position back home. He didn't like the English (who in his opinion were terrible materialists who only thought about money) and suffered from intense cultural shock and social alienation. Here are gathered the lesser-known pieces that were inspired by his stay in the British capital. Back in Tokyo, he succeeded Lafcadio Hearn as professor of English Literature at Tokyo University, but after a few years gave up his academic post to become a full-time writer.
December 26, 2022
Soseki was born in Tokyo, and Tokyo was already one of the largest cities in the world when this story was written. However, when you read the beginning of this story, you can feel how overwhelming London was for Soseki, who came to live in Japan: the roaring sound of trains, trams, busy streets, etc.
The description of his visit to The Tower of London is authentic and makes me feel chilly. He often went back to the eras when executions occurred, and he imagined the grief of the prisoners as if they had been there at that time. I went to the tower years ago, but this story made me feel like I wanted to revisit it.
The description of his visit to The Tower of London is authentic and makes me feel chilly. He often went back to the eras when executions occurred, and he imagined the grief of the prisoners as if they had been there at that time. I went to the tower years ago, but this story made me feel like I wanted to revisit it.
August 1, 2024
I thought that it would make a change reading an outsider’s view of London at the beginning of the 20th Century. It is especially interesting when it is written by a famous author from Japan. What I enjoyed was his portrayal of a man completely out of his comfort zone and his insightful observations of the locals. The time was also of interest as it was the beginning of the end of the British empire and the massive move to full instrialisation and bustle of the capital city would be replicated in Japan half a century later.
July 14, 2022
"nothing is more trying than to be left in a state of conscious monotony... deprived of activity, one is robbed of the meaning of life, and it is more unbearable than death to be conscious of such a state."
Sōseki, 'The Tower of London'
Sōseki, 'The Tower of London'
October 11, 2017
The writing style is very good, simple and clean. However this story was not my cup of tea. Brilliant writing.
November 13, 2017
Wow, I did not expect to like it that much, but hooray!
April 20, 2024
between this story and Bloodborne, I'm starting to see trends in how England is portrayed by Japanese artists
June 4, 2024
ვიქტორ ჰიუგოსთან დავუსვი წერტილი ასეთი ტიპის ნოველებს.
I think it's not for me
I think it's not for me
November 9, 2012
When I picked out this book out of the other 2 books I had in my hand, I was pretty sure I'm going to be enjoying this book because of its' theme.
I have to admit that I'm most fond of alienation and loneliness theme in books.The review on the back of this book grab me in the sentences that said: "Like a poor dog that had stayed among a pack of wolf"
The Tower of London followed the story of Natsume Soseki, one of most prominent early Japanese writer, who was send to London in 1900 to study English Literature.The introduction of this book was also grasping, it said: "What do geniuses do with themselves before they are famous? How do they conduct themselves when they are down on their luck, isolated, impoverished; when they have time on their hands, indeed all due the leisure in the world to fret, dream, weep; when they have yet to glimpse their destiny but more than enough scope to imagine a life of hopeless frustration?"
The first line of the introduction says a lot about this book.Soseki was faced with an isolation towards his lonely 2 years in London.Much like he said, he was a strayed dog, far away from its' comfort zone and was forced to adjust to a totally different society meanwhile laboring his mind by studying and researching English Literature in behalf of Japanese government.
Personally speaking, I find this book quite boring because it was 'way' too descriptive and personally speaking again it's not the kind of book that I root for.However, Soseki take me as a reader, into his world of loneliness and isolation, it was almost like I was him during that time.I can even imagine myself walking down the London road by myself, estranged from the world.
I won't really recommend this book unless you're very interested in Japanese Literature and would like to know how was the writing of the early Japanese writer.
I have to admit that I'm most fond of alienation and loneliness theme in books.The review on the back of this book grab me in the sentences that said: "Like a poor dog that had stayed among a pack of wolf"
The Tower of London followed the story of Natsume Soseki, one of most prominent early Japanese writer, who was send to London in 1900 to study English Literature.The introduction of this book was also grasping, it said: "What do geniuses do with themselves before they are famous? How do they conduct themselves when they are down on their luck, isolated, impoverished; when they have time on their hands, indeed all due the leisure in the world to fret, dream, weep; when they have yet to glimpse their destiny but more than enough scope to imagine a life of hopeless frustration?"
The first line of the introduction says a lot about this book.Soseki was faced with an isolation towards his lonely 2 years in London.Much like he said, he was a strayed dog, far away from its' comfort zone and was forced to adjust to a totally different society meanwhile laboring his mind by studying and researching English Literature in behalf of Japanese government.
Personally speaking, I find this book quite boring because it was 'way' too descriptive and personally speaking again it's not the kind of book that I root for.However, Soseki take me as a reader, into his world of loneliness and isolation, it was almost like I was him during that time.I can even imagine myself walking down the London road by myself, estranged from the world.
I won't really recommend this book unless you're very interested in Japanese Literature and would like to know how was the writing of the early Japanese writer.
May 7, 2023
He is warm, self- deprecating, sardonic, funny, smart and lyrical. My kind of writer.
The bicycle diary - hilarious and humble;
“Where I was supposed to ride my bicycle, or rather, where I was supposed to fall off my bicycle”
“ for starters, ‘get on’ are not friendly words. These words are too cruel and infuriated by them I decide to act out the role of the glorious warrior and begin promisingly by fiercely gripping the handlebar”
“When we say ‘ride, it is not the way that other people say ‘ride’… my appearance is rather as if someone with lumbago was performing ladder too acrobatics at a fire brigade review… it is not, not riding”
“Whether not going with this beautiful young lady to Wimbledon was a blessing or my misfortune is something that I have to thought about a hundred times but in the end am none the wiser. Haiku poets of the Japan school call this a condition of clouded consciousness”
The Tower of London
He only visits once because he doesn’t want the memory to be diluted - and the way he writes you can see how much he is enthralled by the place and the history. He walks each step imagining the place and it’s momentousness - living that zen ethos of no past or future and everything in the now
“The history of the tower of London is a distillation of the history of England. The curtain ceiling the mysterious things called the past rending itself in two and reflecting the ghostly light from out of the depths over the twentieth century is the Tower of London”.
The bicycle diary - hilarious and humble;
“Where I was supposed to ride my bicycle, or rather, where I was supposed to fall off my bicycle”
“ for starters, ‘get on’ are not friendly words. These words are too cruel and infuriated by them I decide to act out the role of the glorious warrior and begin promisingly by fiercely gripping the handlebar”
“When we say ‘ride, it is not the way that other people say ‘ride’… my appearance is rather as if someone with lumbago was performing ladder too acrobatics at a fire brigade review… it is not, not riding”
“Whether not going with this beautiful young lady to Wimbledon was a blessing or my misfortune is something that I have to thought about a hundred times but in the end am none the wiser. Haiku poets of the Japan school call this a condition of clouded consciousness”
The Tower of London
He only visits once because he doesn’t want the memory to be diluted - and the way he writes you can see how much he is enthralled by the place and the history. He walks each step imagining the place and it’s momentousness - living that zen ethos of no past or future and everything in the now
“The history of the tower of London is a distillation of the history of England. The curtain ceiling the mysterious things called the past rending itself in two and reflecting the ghostly light from out of the depths over the twentieth century is the Tower of London”.
November 15, 2012
I came across this book after having read a diverse range of Japanese fiction previously, I am also interested in the mysterious areas of London so this seemed like a good choice.
From the small extracts scattered through these pages I find it strange that Soseki is virtually unknown in the West. Obviously there will be some elements lost in translation but its not difficult to see why he is so highly regarded in Japan.
Soseki spent two years in London studying English Literature, this book is a compendium of various writing and letters he completed during and after his stay. Lack of social contact and his obvious alienation in a land unused to Japanese led to some wonderful work. Seeing turn of the century London through the eyes of such a gifted writer is compelling and rewarding in equal measure. The descriptions are infused with a deep fascination for history, I cannot remember reading something which captures space and time in such a unique way.
I look forward to reading some fiction from Soseki and hopefully we will be able to find him on more bookshop shelves in England.
From the small extracts scattered through these pages I find it strange that Soseki is virtually unknown in the West. Obviously there will be some elements lost in translation but its not difficult to see why he is so highly regarded in Japan.
Soseki spent two years in London studying English Literature, this book is a compendium of various writing and letters he completed during and after his stay. Lack of social contact and his obvious alienation in a land unused to Japanese led to some wonderful work. Seeing turn of the century London through the eyes of such a gifted writer is compelling and rewarding in equal measure. The descriptions are infused with a deep fascination for history, I cannot remember reading something which captures space and time in such a unique way.
I look forward to reading some fiction from Soseki and hopefully we will be able to find him on more bookshop shelves in England.
October 3, 2022
Ахин дахин унших хэрэгтэй. Дараах хэсгийг тэмдэглэж авав.
"Цагаан гэх атлаа харыг зааж, бага жижиг хэмээн өгүүлэвч томыг бодогдуулдаг. Бүхий л үгүйсгэлийн дотроос өөрөө ч мэдэхгүйгээр хойч үедээ үлдээх үгүйсгэл шиг айхавтар зүйл байдаг гэж үү?
Би үхэхдээ өөрийгөө илтгэх ямар ч юм бичиж үлдээхгүй. Үхсэнийхээ дараа хөшөө босгуулахгүй. Арьс махаа шатаалгаж, яс үсээ үнс нурам болгоод баруунаас үлээх салхинаар эх нутгийнхаа тэнгэр өөд цацуулъя гэх зэргээр элдэв дэмий юм бодлоо."
"Цагаан гэх атлаа харыг зааж, бага жижиг хэмээн өгүүлэвч томыг бодогдуулдаг. Бүхий л үгүйсгэлийн дотроос өөрөө ч мэдэхгүйгээр хойч үедээ үлдээх үгүйсгэл шиг айхавтар зүйл байдаг гэж үү?
Би үхэхдээ өөрийгөө илтгэх ямар ч юм бичиж үлдээхгүй. Үхсэнийхээ дараа хөшөө босгуулахгүй. Арьс махаа шатаалгаж, яс үсээ үнс нурам болгоод баруунаас үлээх салхинаар эх нутгийнхаа тэнгэр өөд цацуулъя гэх зэргээр элдэв дэмий юм бодлоо."
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