Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Pushkin Fund toward the cost of publishing this book.
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Publishers Since 1893
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Copyright © 2014 John Nathan
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EISBN: 978-0-231-53618-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Natsume, Soseki, 1867–1916.
[Meian. English]
Light and dark : a novel / Natsume Soseki; Translated, with an introduction, by John Nathan.
pages cm.—(Weatherhead Books on Asia)
“Originally published in Japanese with the romanized title of “Meian.”
Previously titled: Light and Darkness: An Unfinished Novel in parts in a Japanese serial publication.
ISBN 978-0-231-16142-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-53618-9 (e-book)
I. Nathan, John, 1940– translator.
II. Title.
PL812.A8M413 2013
895.6'342—dc23
2013013779
A Columbia University Press E-book.
COVER IMAGE: Designed by Natsume Sōseki for the cover of his novel Kokoro (1914), the pattern is based on a rubbing of an ancient Chinese inscription on stone, done in the style of calligraphy known as seal script.
COVER DESIGN: Milenda Nan Ok Lee
FRONTISPIECE: Natsume Sōseki (age forty-five), September 13, 1912. Tokyo: On the occasion of the Meiji Emperor’s funeral. (Photo by Ogawa Kazumasa; courtesy of the Museum of Modern Japanese Literature)
SPOT DRAWINGS: Illustrations by Natori Shunsen, published in the daily serial of Light and Dark (Meian) in Asahi shinbun, May 16–December 14, 1916.
(Collected in Natsume Sōseki ibokushū bessatsu [Tokyo: Kyūryūdō, 1980], 64–69)