The Light and the Dark
Encyclopedia
The Light and the Dark is the fourth novel in C.P. Snow's Strangers and Brothers
series. Set in England
in the lead-up to and during World War II
, it portrays Lewis Eliot's friendship with the gifted scholar and remarkable individual Roy Calvert, and Calvert's inner turmoil and quest for meaning in life. Calvert was based on Snow's friend, Coptic
scholar, Charles Allberry
. Their relationship is developed further in The Masters.
The title - The Light and the Dark - refers to the beliefs of Manichaeism
, which the book refers to as "Christian heresy" but is now often referred to as religion in its own right. "In its cosmology, the whole of cosmology is a battle of the light against the dark. Man's spirit is part of the light, and his flesh of the dark."
The title has resonance to the build up to war, the sense of catastrophe so widespread in the 1930s, and the mental health problems of Calvert.
Strangers and Brothers
Strangers and Brothers is a series of novels by C. P. Snow, published between 1940 and 1974. They deal with – amongst other things – questions of political and personal integrity, and the mechanics of exercising power....
series. Set in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the lead-up to and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it portrays Lewis Eliot's friendship with the gifted scholar and remarkable individual Roy Calvert, and Calvert's inner turmoil and quest for meaning in life. Calvert was based on Snow's friend, Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
scholar, Charles Allberry
Charles Allberry
Charles Robert Cecil Augustine Allberry was an English Egyptologist and Coptic scholar. A friend of novelist CP Snow, Allberry was the model for Roy Calvert in Snow's novel, The Light and the Dark....
. Their relationship is developed further in The Masters.
The title - The Light and the Dark - refers to the beliefs of Manichaeism
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
, which the book refers to as "Christian heresy" but is now often referred to as religion in its own right. "In its cosmology, the whole of cosmology is a battle of the light against the dark. Man's spirit is part of the light, and his flesh of the dark."
The title has resonance to the build up to war, the sense of catastrophe so widespread in the 1930s, and the mental health problems of Calvert.