From Art and Culture: http://www.artandculture.com/arts/artist?artistId=1060

The writer's childhood was marked by unusual circumstances that some believe led him to
become rather distrustful of the world around him. Against the backdrop of a country
undergoing economic turmoil, the writer-to-be found himself shuttled between a biological
and a foster family -- an especially horrifying situation given his culture's emphasis on
familial roots.

While we cannot be certain how this unstable upbringing affected the developing artist, the
insecurities that run through his prose are unmistakable. Sôseki's work echoes the
uncertainty and discontent now made familiar by the writing of European Modernists like
Freud, Woolf, and Hemingway. Despite its somewhat cute title, 1905's Wagahai wa
neko de aru (I Am a Cat) takes a decidedly sardonic view of Meiji-era Japan. The book
is written from the viewpoint of a cat living through the country's transformation from a
feudal society to a modern one. Apparently, our feline protagonist prefers the traditional
over the inscrutable ways of the West -- the novel is chock-full of satirical commentary on
some of the more unsavory aspects of modernity.

Sarcasm transforms to a more sensitive melancholy in the later Kokoro (considered by
many to be his best work). The novel is a poetic rumination on the tragedy of the human
condition: Man is destined to be alone, and to know it. Relationships in the novel give rise
to passion and betrayal, a longing for connectedness and a lingering loneliness. Though
Kokoro works on a personal level, it may still be read as Sôseki's continuing interest
in the crisis of his culture. For Sôseki, alienation is the bane of the Japanese individual
torn between modernity and tradition.

Discontent and disillusionment continued as running themes throughout Natsume's work,
and he continued to develop motifs of isolation and suffering until the bitter end. Evidently,
the vitriol finally overcame him -- in 1916 he died of a chronic ulcer.

See also from http://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/english/bunjin/natsume_e.htm:

Natsume Sôseki, novelist and scholar of English literature, was born in Tokyo in 1867. His real name was Kinnosuke. After graduating from Tokyo University, he taught English language and literature at the Matsuyama Middle School (in Ehime, Shikoku) and at the Fifth Higher School in Kumamoto, Kyushu.   In 1900, he was sent by the Education Ministry to study in London.

On returning to Japan in 1903, he began to teach English literature at the
First Higher School and Tokyo University. Also around this time, he was
invited by the poet and novelist Takahama Kyoshi to contribute stories to
the literary magazine Hototogisu. When "Wagahai wa Neko de aru" (tr I am a
Cat) and "Botchan" (Little Master; tr Botchan) were serialized in the
magazine, they established his reputation as an author.
This prompted Soseki to concentrate on writing. He gave up his teaching
positions in 1907 and joined the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Soon he was
producing many notable stories, including the trilogy "Sanshiro" (tr
Sanshiro), "Sorekara" (tr And Then), and "Mon" (The Gate; tr Mon); and
"Higansugi made" (Until After the Equinox) and "Michikusa" (tr Grass on the
Wayside).

Besides fiction, Soseki also wrote cultural critiques, Chinese poetry and
haiku verse. From his days at Tokyo University, he was greatly influenced by
his fellow student, the poet and critic Masaoka Shiki, and produced a prolific
number of poems.

Sôseki developed the symptoms of tuberculosis from around 1904 and,
despite earnest efforts to convalesce, never fully recovered. And with the
added stress of other worries, he began to suffer from depression. On the
suggestion of his friend Suga Torao, he practised Zen meditation at the
Kigen-in hall of Engakuji Temple in Kita Kamakura. He was there from the end
of December 1904 until January 7th. He described this experience in "Mon"
and "Yume Juya" (tr Ten Nights of Dreams).

Sôseki died in 1916 of a gastric ulcer; he was 49 years old.

Natsume Sōseki (夏目 漱石, February 9, 1867 – December 9, 1916), born Natsume Kin'nosuke (夏目 金之助), was a Japanese novelist.

He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note. In Japan, he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history. He has had a profound effect on almost all important Japanese writers since.

Early years

Born in 1867 as Natsume Kinnosuke in the town of Babashita in the Edo region of Ushigome (present Kikui, Shinjuku), Sōseki began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life, forty years old and his father then fifty-three. When he was born, he already had five siblings. Having five children and a toddler had created family insecurity and was in some ways a disgrace to the Natsume family. A childless couple, Shiobara Masanosuke and his wife, adopted him in 1868 and raised him until the age of nine, when the couple divorced. He returned to his family and was welcomed by his mother although regarded as a nuisance by his father. His mother died when he was fourteen, and his two eldest brothers died in 1887, intensifying his sense of insecurity.

Sōseki attended the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School), where he became enamored with Chinese literature, and fancied that he might someday become a writer. His desire to become an author arose when he was about fifteen when he told his older brother about his interest in literature. However, his family disapproved strongly of this course of action, and when Sōseki entered the Tokyo Imperial University in September 1884, it was with the intention of becoming an architect. Although he preferred Chinese classics, he began studying English at that time, feeling that it might prove useful to him in his future career, as English was a necessity in Japanese college.

In 1887, Sōseki met Masaoka Shiki, a friend who would give him encouragement on the path to becoming a writer, which would ultimately be his career. Shiki tutored him in the art of composing haiku. From this point on, he began signing his poems with the name Sōseki, which is a Chinese idiom meaning "stubborn." In 1890, he entered the English Literature department, and quickly mastered the English language. In 1891 he produced a translation into English of the classical work Hōjōki. Sōseki graduated in 1893, and enrolled for some time as a graduate student and part-time teacher at the Tokyo Normal School.

In 1895, Sōseki began teaching at Matsuyama Middle School in Shikoku, which became the setting of his novel Botchan. Along with fulfilling his teaching duties, Sōseki published haiku and Chinese poetry in a number of newspapers and periodicals. He resigned his post in 1896, and began teaching at the Fifth High School in Kumamoto. On June 10 of that year, he married Nakane Kyoko.

In the United Kingdom, 1901–1903

In 1900, the Japanese government sent Sōseki to study in Great Britain as "Japan's first Japanese English literary scholar". He visited Cambridge and stayed a night there, but gave up the idea of studying at the university because he could not afford it on his government scholarship. He studied instead at University College London (UCL). He had a miserable time in London, spending most of his days indoors buried in books, and his friends feared that he might be losing his mind. He also visited Pitlochry in Scotland, where he lodged with John Henry Dixon at the Dundarach Hotel.

He lived in four different lodgings: 76 Gower Street, near the British Museum; 85 Priory Road, West Hampstead; 6 Flodden Road, Camberwell; and 81 The Chase, Clapham (see the photograph). Only the last of these addresses, where he lodged with Priscilla Leale and her sister Elizabeth, proved satisfactory.

Five years later, in his preface to Bungakuron (The Criticism of Literature), he wrote about the period:

The two years I spent in London were the most unpleasant years in my life. Among English gentlemen I lived in misery, like a poor dog that had strayed among a pack of wolves.

He got along well with Priscilla, who shared his love of literature, notably Shakespeare and Milton (his tutor at UCL was the Shakespeare scholar W. J. Craig), and who also spoke fluent French, much to his admiration. The Leales were a Channel Island family, and Priscilla had been born in France. The sisters worried about Sōseki's incipient paranoia and successfully urged him to get out more and take up cycling.

Despite his poverty, loneliness, and mental problems, he solidified his knowledge of English literature during this period and returned to the Empire of Japan in January 1903. In April he was appointed to the First National College in Tokyo. Also, he was given the lectureship in English literature, subsequently replacing Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) and ultimately becoming a professor of English literature at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he taught literary theory and literary criticism.

Legacy

In the 21st century, there has been a global emergence of interest in Sōseki. Soseki's Kokoro has been newly published in 10 languages, such as Arabic, Slovenian and Dutch, since 2001. In South Korea, the complete collection of Soseki's long works began to be published in 2013. In English-speaking countries there has been a succession of English translations since 2008. About 60 of his works have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Reasons for this emergence of global interest have been attributed in part to Haruki Murakami who said Sōseki was his favorite writer.

Political scientist Kang Sang-jung, who is the principal of Seigakuin University, said, "Soseki predicted the problems we are facing today. He had a long-term view of civilization." He also said, "His popularity will become more global in the future."

See https://peoplepill.com/people/natsume-soseki/ for the complete article.