Symbols in the Novel “Ten Nights of Dreams” by Natsume Sōseki

Abstract

This paper explores the novel “Ten Nights of Dreams” which is a series of short dream stories written in 1908 by the famous Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916). In this paper I explore Natsume’s technique called “dream” which employs images of Japanese folklore and world mythology. The dreams of the character of the “Ten Nights of Dreams” novel symbolize complexity and ambiguity of the human nature, and the world of the fantasy created by him demonstrates us both a unique stream of consciousness and the unconscious layer. I focus on the subjective attitude of the dreamer (dream-ego), as well as on images, symbols and motives of each dream. The whole series of the dreams is seen to have three levels of motives: 1) separation of man and woman by death; 2) confrontation with oneself; 3) tales concerning art and/or religion. Natsume Sōseki uses the following symbols in his novels: 1) number 100 as a symbol of eternity and wisdom in four novels and number 7 in two novels; 2) symbols of Buddhism and Shinto – in three novels; 3) animal as a symbol – once; 4) a flower as a symbol of pure eternal love – once; 5) allusions on the Japanese and world literature and folklore – in three novels.