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is the last novel by Natsume Sōseki. It was left incomplete at time of his death in 1916. It has subsequently been translated into English by V.H. Viglielmo and John Nathan. ==History== ''Mei An'' was first published in daily serialized installments in the Tokyo and Osaka editions of the Asahi Shimbun beginning on May 16, 1916. It was the ninth and last of his novels to be serialized by the newspaper. In a letter to the paper's editor, Sōseki explained that because of his illness—a combination of bleeding ulcers, intestinal catarrh, and hemorrhoids—he only began work on the novel a week before the serialization was scheduled to run.〔 He also remarked that he was able to complete nine installments before the serialization was published, a lead he managed to maintain until his death on December 9, 1916. The writing of the novel became increasingly problematic for Sōseki as his illness worsened over the year. On November 16, less than a month before his death, Sōseki confided to a pupil the toll that the writing of the novel was taking on him: "It troubles me that ''Mei An'' gets longer and longer. I'm still writing. I'm sure this will continue into the new year."〔 By November 21 Sōseki had become too ill to continue work on the novel. He died on December 9, leaving the novel unfinished. 188 installments had been completed; a manuscript with the number "189" penned in the upper right corner was found on his desk after his death.〔 The following year, Iwanami Shoten published the extant 188 installments in book form. Despite being incomplete, the novel is the longest work Sōseki ever wrote—over 200 pages longer than his ''I Am a Cat'' and approximately twice the length of his other novels.〔 The Columbia University Press translation includes the Spot drawings: Illustrations by Natori Shunsen, published in the daily serial of Light and Dark (Meian) in Ashai Shimbun, May 16 – December 14, 1916 (Collected in Natsum soseki ibokushu bessatsu (Tokyo: Kyuryudo, 1980 ), 64–69) as noted on the title page verso. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Light and Darkness (novel)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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