"'A sensitive, skilfully written novel by the most widely read Japanese author of modern times.' - Guardian 'Soseki's prose is so delicate that each page is like looking at a set of dreamy watercolours.' - Sunday Telegraph; 'The Gate is not so much tragic or comic as a graceful balance between the dispiriting and the humorous... The Gate is surely the kind of writing we need - a masterpiece of taste and clarity. Francis Mathy's translation must be warmly commended.' - New Statesman"

Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is one of the great writers of the modern world. Educated at Tokyo Imperial University, he was sent to England in 1900 as a government scholar. As one of the first Japanese writers to be influenced by Western culture, his various works are read by virtually all Japanese, and contemporary authors in Japan continue to be influenced by his oeuvre.