The Three-Cornered World

'Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature' Haruki Murakami'Vastly refreshing ... Soseki doesn't shrink from seeking and finding exquisite pearls of beauty'Guardian''The greatest Japanese novelist of the modern period'TelegraphIn this Japanese classic, an artist on holiday at a mountain hot spring becomes fixated on a mysterious local beauty.A young artist travels into the mountains, in search of the refreshments of nature. Staying at a small hot-spring hotel, he soaks in the water and takes walks nearby, always intending to do some painting - though he never seems to get around to it. Instead, he finds himself transfixed by the daughter of the hotel owner, an enigmatic young beauty.His preoccupation is neither romantic nor sexual, but aesthetic: why is he so drawn to O-Nami's changeable face, now hostile, now serene? And what prevents him finally putting brush to paper and painting her portrait? As the holiday goes on, these two circle e