A Strange Tale of Disguise and Other Stories

A narrator leaves the library and watches a summer evening unfold into fireworks, royal carriages, marching soldiers, and the promises of Mephistopheles. Beneath that dazzling theatrical surface lies an errand he cannot admit even to his wife. In a seaside village, another visitor agrees to play the professor for a friend whose notebooks suggest a formidable education—and gradually finds the borrowed role tightening around him.

These four complete stories follow Makino Shin’ichi’s restless movement between fantasy and everyday embarrassment. A Strange Tale of Disguise exposes the elaborate language through which its narrator conceals and justifies himself. As Summer Draws Near explores friendship, frustrated ambition, and the contagious strain of appearances. Untitled follows an evening walk that refuses to become a homeward journey, while The Girl and Dorian pairs an independent young rider with a remarkably obedient horse.

Makino Shin’ichi (1896–1936) brought comic unease and imaginative freedom to modern Japanese fiction. This collection preserves the supplied order, quoted verse, source emphases, and unresolved endings, with concise textual notes. AI-assisted translation.