Soseki Natsume was born in Tokyo in 1867 and attended prestigious University of Tokyo before working as an English teacher for a time. He went to London for three years in 1900 on a government literary scholarship, where he developed a love for Shakespeare. Returning to take up a position at his alma mater, his writing career began with I Am a Cat in 1905. Botchan followed in 1906 and these remain his most popular works, along with Kokoro. Soseki enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime, and when Japanese readers and critics are asked today which author they most admire, Soseki's name always appears at the top of the list.

Erik Lofgren is Professor of East Asian Studies at Bucknell University where he teaches classes on Japanese language, literature, and film. He has published several works on the poetry of Umezaki Haruo, works of fiction by Furui Yoshikichi and Ooka Shohei, and the films Rashomon and Shin Gojira.