Watch and Forget and Other Plays and Essays

A filmgoer discovers that imagined scenes can outlast the films he actually sees. A translator addresses Jules Renard, while brief conversations and observations test the distance between words, motives, and everyday life. Five essays reveal Kishida Kunio’s wit, curiosity, and sensitivity to the small surprises of language and travel.

Four dramatic works move from an uncomfortable marriage interview to a silent encounter on a railway platform. An Example of a Wise Woman follows a hostess whose matchmaking arrangements provoke an unexpected confession. Rails turns glances, hesitation, and an unexplained ticket into a compact pantomime. In The Lance Corporal Who Got Lost, night exercises, village hospitality, flirtation, and military orders collide through voices and sound.

The final three-scene play imagines a comet threatening the earth, a bureaucratic reception for the dead, and a family confronting the return of ordinary obligations. Complete translations preserve all nine supplied works, with concise notes on names, historical terms, textual details, and uncertain references.