Light and Dark

A full-length novel by Natsume Soseki. It was serialized in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo and Osaka from May 26 to December 14, 1916 (Taisho 5), but was discontinued when the author died. It was published by Iwanami Shoten in January of the following year. Tsuda, an office worker, concealed his past with Kiyoko when he married her, but O-Nobu, who suspects her husband's secret, fears being laughed at. O-Hide, the younger sister, hates her sister-in-law's vanity and fights with her brother over the payment of hospital fees, while Kobayashi, a friend, attacks Tsuda's "leisure" and predicts that he will be punished by the "truth" one day. The story depicts the conflicts and love-hate of ordinary people who cannot escape their egoism, arranging a web of ordinary human relationships such as couples, siblings, lovers, friends, relatives, superiors and subordinates. The novel ends at the point where Tsuda reunites with Kiyoko. The dense depictions of everyday psychology evoke the bottomless abyss of human nature, but the direction of salvation beyond the "I" is still unclear. This is a powerful work with the structure of a full-fledged objective novel.

[Yukio Miyoshi]

"Light and Darkness" (Iwanami Bunko, Kadokawa Bunko, Kodansha Bunko, Shincho Bunko)" ▽ "Ogai and Soseki by Yukio Miyoshi" (1983, Chikaratomi Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

夏目漱石(そうせき)の長編小説。1916年（大正5）5月26日から12月14日まで、東京・大阪の『朝日新聞』に連載され、作者の死によって中絶した。翌年1月、岩波書店刊。会社員の津田は清子との過去を隠して結婚したが、夫の秘密を疑うお延(のぶ)は人のもの笑いになるのを恐れている。嫂(あによめ)の虚栄を憎む妹のお秀は、入院費用のくめんをめぐって兄と争い、友人の小林は津田の「余裕」を攻撃し、いずれ「事実」に罰せられると予言する。夫婦、兄妹、愛人、友人、親族、上役と下僚などありふれた人間関係を網の目のように布置し、我執を脱しえない凡俗の葛藤(かっとう)と愛憎が執拗(しつよう)に描かれる。小説は津田が清子と再会した場面で中絶した。日常心理の稠密(ちゅうみつ)な描写を重ねて人間性の底知れぬ深淵(しんえん)を彷彿(ほうふつ)するが、「私」を超える救済の方向はまだみえてこない。本格的な客観小説の骨格を備えた重厚な力作。

［三好行雄］

『『明暗』（岩波文庫・角川文庫・講談社文庫・新潮文庫）』▽『三好行雄著『鴎外と漱石』（1983・力富書房）』

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