A reflective critical work by Kenzo Nakajima, who observed Showa literature and its intellectuals. Encounters with writers, changes of the age, and his experience as a critic illuminate modern literature through personal memory.

回想の文学 reflects its age and human lives through the perspective of 中島健蔵.

A novel tracing more than two postwar decades in the life of a man whose youth was shaped around the May Day Incident. Through his flight from love, family, and work, it reflects both the fervor and emptiness of postwar society.

五月巡歴 reflects its age and human lives through the perspective of 黒井千次.

A novel that echoes the Urashima legend while layering postwar memory, women’s bodily experience, and the shadow of the atomic bombing. Mythic time intersects with modern anxiety, showing Oba Minako’s concerns with unusual intensity.

浦島草 reflects its age and human lives through the perspective of 大庭みな子.

Set in the alleyways of Kishu, this first full-length novel by Kenji Nakagami brings together blood ties, community, violence, and mythic time. It is a landmark of postwar literature where real place and narrative force collide.

枯木灘 reflects its age and human lives through the perspective of 中上健次.