Beyond the Phantom

Okabe Junzō learns that his wife is pregnant in the aftermath of a quarrel. The news awakens tenderness, jealousy and strange fears that he cannot explain. While Akiko prepares for motherhood, he struggles to understand what the new life means for their marriage and for himself.

The birth of their son brings a brief sense of wonder. Then illness, loss and the arrival of a wet nurse turn the household into a place where care and dependence are inseparable from resentment. Ordinary objects—a glass container, a cupboard, an urn—take on unsettling power in the father’s memories and imaginings. A second pregnancy makes him confront feelings he has tried to evade.

First published in 1922, Beyond the Phantom explores grief, possession and the difficult discovery of attachment. This complete English translation preserves all six sections and the ending’s uncertainty. Notes clarify historical medical language, rituals, rare characters and source anomalies. AI-assisted translation.