A sun soaked in blood: the symbolic value of colors in Natsume Sōseki’s London diaries

The chapter is the third in a series of joint studies on colors in Japanese literature, focussing on the role that the fictionalization of his experience in London as a scholar played on Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) ' s overall allegoric view of the supernatural in his London diary, and the many fictional pieces based on his experience abroad. The methodology is essentially philological, analyzing terms, verbs, adverbs used in the description of scenes where the mingling between reality and the imaginary is the main narrative device. The paper also comprises a comparison with early Chinese material authored by Soseki, previously unedited in the English language.