Du Zichun and Other Writings

A penniless young man meets an old stranger beneath the western gate of Luoyang. Twice he receives a fortune, and twice he loses it. Seeking something beyond wealth, he follows the stranger toward a trial that will test what it means to remain human.

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Du Zichun anchors eight complete works that move between wonder, intimate observation, and literary argument. A naval-school teacher struggles to write a memorial address. A university student waits for a meeting that never takes place. A nurse reveals an affection she has scarcely acknowledged to herself.

Elsewhere, plants and a stone converse in a garden of new green, and spring nights become brief, unsettling fragments. Essays examine how readers learn to appreciate literature and how changing Japanese spelling can threaten distinctions a writer values.