The Family (Shimazaki novel)
| Author | Tōson Shimazaki |
|---|---|
| Original title | 家 (Ie) |
| Translator | Cecilia Segawa Seigle |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | University of Tokyo Press |
Publication date | 1910-1 |
Published in English | 1976 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 311 |
| ISBN | 0-86008-165-6 |
The Family is a Japanese novel written by Tōson Shimazaki, first serialized in 1910–11 under the title Ie (家). This autobiographical novel deals with the disintegration of two provincial families, the Koizumis and the Hashimotos.
Plot
The Family covers a period of twelve years in the lives of the Koizumi and the Hashimoto families, from 1898 to 1910.[1] (These two families are based on the real-life families of Shimazaki and Takase: one was Tōson's own family and the other the family into which his eldest sister married.) Originally well respected, the families find themselves slipping down the social ladder as their eldest sons, Koizumi Minoru and Hashimoyo Tatsuo, take on disastrous financial projects. The character Sankichi is the youngest son of the Koizumi family, a writer – a thinly disguised alter ego for the author himself.
References
- ↑ Shimazaki Tōson. [Trans. Cecilia Sagawa Seigle] (1976). The Family. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, Translator's Introduction, p xiii.