4812


In episode 6 of the third season (or chapter 147) of _The World God Only
Knows_ , Shiori starts writing her story but scraps the introduction she wrote
because it was imitating some other novel.

Does anyone know what novel she was referring to?

Here's a screenshot of what she wrote:  
[![Shiori writing
"吾輩は女装男である。名前は桂木"](https://i.stack.imgur.com/83YcCm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/83YcC.jpg)

This roughly translates to:

> I'm a cross-dressing man
>
> My name is Katsuragi


CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-14T16:32:58.623
4811
2013-12-23T00:33:09.650
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303
-1
2138
question
the-world-god-only-knows
What novel's introduction was Shiori imitating?


I believe this is a reference to the novel ["I am a
Cat"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Cat) (吾輩は猫である, _Wagahai wa neko
dearu_ ) by author [Natsume
Souseki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_S%C5%8Dseki). It's opening
sentences are the following:

> 吾輩は猫である。名前はまだ無い。

which, translated into English, is:

> I am a cat. I don't yet have a name.

The reference is more apparent if we compare the two in Japanese. The
grammatical structure of the sentences is very similar:

TWGOK:

> **吾輩は** 女装男 **である。名前は** 桂木

I am a cat:

> **吾輩は** 猫 **である。名前は** まだ無い。

All the words other than the nouns are the same. The use of 吾輩 ( _wagahai_ )
for "I", である ( _dearu_ ) as a sentence-ending phrase would both be strange in
modern writing. In addition, the general structure of the two sentences are
similar enough that this is almost certainly not a coincidence.

The novel is very popular in Japan, being Natsume's first major literary work
and one of his top three most read (the other two are
[Kokoro](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokoro) and
[Botchan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botchan)), and Natsume himself being in
all likelihood the most important writer in Japanese history. It would not be
strange at all for it to be referenced here.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-14T18:22:38.283
4812
2013-08-14T19:50:24.443
2013-08-14T19:50:24.443
24
24
4811
answer