Join Keep St. Pete Lit, a local organization that supports the literary community, for a book club connecting the visual and literary arts.  Each month’s featured book will relate to the MFA’s collection or special exhibitions.

July 11th : I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume

So begins one of the most original and unforgettable works in Japanese literature, written over 100 years ago, but still resonant with a contemporary audience.

Richly allegorical and delightfully readable, I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume is the chronicle of an unloved, unwanted, wandering kitten who spends all his time observing human nature – from the dramas of businessmen and schoolteachers to the foibles of priests and potentates. From this unique perspective, Natsume offers a biting commentary — shaped by his training in Chinese philosophy — on the social upheaval of the Meiji era.

I Am a Cat first appeared in ten installments in the literary magazine Hotoguisu (Cuckoo), between 1905 and 1906. Natsume had not intended to write more than the short story that makes up the first chapter of this book. After its great critical and popular success, he expanded it into this epic novel, which is universally recognized as a classic of world literature.

Free with admission, $10 on Thursdays after 5:00 p.m.