Japanese author and translator (of Russian literature). Born 1864, died 1909.
Futabatei's début novel, Drifting Clouds (1887-1889) decribes the life of a "superfluous" young intellectual during the modernisation of Japan in the late 19th century. It is considered a seminal work in modern Japanese literature, with its modernistic style and realistic portrayals of life.
Floating Grass (1897), Futabatei's translation of Ivan Turgenev's Rudin, also had a noteworthy effect on many young Japanese writers of that generation.
After a hiatus of 20 years, Futabatei wrote Banal (1907), which tells of a writer looking back on his trivial life.