Myself in Those Days and Other Writings

A mother lies dying while her children struggle with duty, resentment, affection and the wish to escape. A young writer recalls university lectures, a night at the theater and a friend who weeps in his sleep. In these intimate scenes, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke turns his sharp attention toward family life, memory and the making of a writer.

Myself in Those Days and Other Writings brings together fourteen complete works. O-Ritsu and Her Children and the title memoir anchor a selection of literary essays, recollections of student days, prefaces, six prose poems and two brief posthumous pieces. Friends and mentors appear beside treasured objects, a transformed folktale and the author's restless reflections on what literature can do.

This new English translation includes explanatory endnotes and detailed source and publication information. The selection and arrangement are editorial; the volume is not a historical Japanese anthology.