The Gate

I especially remember the strong sense of identification I felt with The Gate , the story of a young married couple living in far-from-ideal circumstances. --Haruki Murakami<br><br> Released in 1910, The Gate is among top Japanese novelist S&#333;seki's best-know works. A man suddenly abandons his loving wife to enter a life of contemplation in a Zen temple. He goes looking for answers but finds only more questions. --Library Journal <br> <br> A sensitive, skillfully written novel by the most widely read Japanese author of modern times. -- The Guardian <br> <br> S&#333;seki's prose is so delicate that each page is like looking at a set of dreamy watercolors.' -- Sunday Telegraph <br> <br> The Gate is not so much tragic or comic as a graceful balance between the dispiriting and the humorous. It is surely the kind of writing we need. A masterpiece of taste and clarity. --New Statesman <br> <br> The Gate is almost devoid of dramatic incidents, but halting conversations of a quite ordinary husband and wife have a peculiar poignance because their love is the one abiding element in their lives. The descriptions of S&#333;seki's house and its surroundings are as precise as in a Naturalist novel, and the atmosphere of almost featureless days is unfalteringly conveyed, but the novel never becomes boring, no doubt because of the excellence of the writing. --Donald Keene