Soseki and Shiki : their friendship in haiku and kanshi

TL;DRAbstract

This thesis interrogates the friendship between Natsume Soseki and Masaoka Shiki through a study of their kanshi and haiku exchanges, examining the concepts of \influence\" and intertextuality. Both Soseki and Shiki were educated in the Chinese classics and practiced writing kanshi during their student days. When Soseki and Shiki became good friends they exchanged kanshi and haiku in their correspondence. Shiki was impressed by Soseki's creativity of expression his sensitivity to colours and sounds and his ability to express innermost thoughts in his kanshi. Even though Soseki's motivation for writing kanshi writing did not arise from his relationship with Shiki their literary friendship ie Shiki's kanshi writing and his kanshi exchange with Soseki gave Soseki added encouragement and opportunities for and pleasure in composing kanshi. This thesis will concentrate on Soseki's early kanshi written while Shiki was alive before Soseki departed to England. Under the influence of Shiki's new

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