The Delusional Patient

Junzō leaves a philosophy lecture with little in his notebook and much to conceal. Ill after an excursion with a friend, he seeks refuge at his uncle’s clinic, only to discover that the household is already absorbed in another troubling illness. His cousin Teruko seems to know more than he wishes, and every attempt to impress her becomes another trap.

Through lectures, boardinghouse visits, hospital conversations, drinking excursions, and a painful moonlit walk, Makino Shin’ichi follows a narrator whose self-awareness rarely restrains his vanity. Junzō recognizes his own shallow performances, yet cannot stop turning affection into rivalry or weakness into a show of defiance. What he thinks he understands about others remains precariously uncertain.

First published in 1922, The Delusional Patient combines psychological unease with sharp, uncomfortable comedy. This complete English translation preserves all four sections, the dream sequence, the contradictory conversations, and the closing composition date. Twenty-seven notes explain historical places, customs, literary allusions, and textual difficulties without assigning diagnoses the original does not establish.