The Gate

An NYRB Classics Original<br><br>A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo. Resigned following years of exile and misfortune to the bitter consequences of having married without their families&#146; consent and unable to have children of their own S&#333;suke and Oyone find the delicate equilibrium of their household upset by a new obligation to meet the educational expenses of S&#333;suke&#146;s brash younger brother. While an unlikely new friendship appears to offer a way out of this bind it also soon threatens to dredge up a past that could once again force them to flee the capital. Desperate and torn S&#333;suke finally resolves to travel to a remote Zen mountain monastery to see if perhaps there through meditation he can find a way out of his predicament. <br>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <br>This moving and deceptively simple story a melancholy tale shot through with glimmers of joy beauty and gentle wit is an understated masterpiece by one of Japan&#146;s greatest writers. At the end of his life Natsume S&#333;seki declared <i>The Gate</i> originally published in 1910 to be his favorite among all his novels. This new translation captures the oblique grace of the original while correcting numerous errors and omissions that marred the first English version.