A Study of Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s “Spring Nights”：The Ways in which the Mystery is Understood

Abstract

Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s later story “Spring Nights” (“Bungei Shunju”), published in September 1926, is a work that has not been much discussed. During his stay in his wife’s parents’ house in Kugenuma in 1926, from June 8th to the end of the month, he received the said material from the nurse who accompanied him. In previous interpretative studies of this work, it has been perceived that the theme of the “Shadow of Death” represents creeping melancholy. However, the main focus of this work is the “strangeness” of the experience which Ms. N talked about. In other words, it seems that the author’s aim was to create a mystery that could not be interpreted on the basis of knowledge of natural science. Therefore, in this light, I would like to attempt a new reading of “Spring Nights” in this article.