ABSTRACT
Soseki Natsume and Ogai Mori are considered the two most important figures on the Meiji literary scene. Both took part in the Japanese quest for knowledge of the West. For them, this meant study in Europe followed by areturn to Japan to face the crisis of reintegration characteristic of so many Meiji intellectuals. Soseki and Ogai faced a dilemma posed by bringing horne a somewhat altered ego: an emancipated one, aware of new freedoms and self-assertions bound to pit someone Japanese against many ofhis country's most deeply ingrained customs and beliefs.
