May I bring in an alternative way of looking at this collection. I like reading these stories, just letting the words carry me to anywhere it goes, not trying to find out the 'answers' of the enigma. It's more like looking at paintings.
請讓我提出一個另類角度看這組小說。我喜歡這個短篇小說集，隨意讓它帶我往何處去，而不在意尋找當中謎語的答案。這樣更似在看繪畫。
Lots of symbols are used by the author. Did he want us to guess? Yes and no. Among the 10 stories, some stories' meaning is quite obvious, but some are rather obscure. The first three stories are easy to understand, but the true meaning (if there is any) becomes more veiled as we go further. Why he gave us a set of stories with varying degree of obscurity? I need not to make any effort to understand 'The 1st Night'. Why I need to try hard for 'The 4th Night' or the other nights? Did he want us to guess, or not? In general, writing with symbols and metaphors is to make things blurred. He wants us to know, but not exactly know!
作者運用了大量符號。他想我們去猜嗎？想，也不想。在十個短篇中，部分小說的意思相當明顯，但另一些卻曖昧。起初三篇很容易明白，但當繼續讀下去，小說的真正意思（倘若有所謂的真正意思）便愈加隱晦。作者為何要寫一組顯淺與晦澀各異的小說？當我讀《第一夜》根本不用費勁去理解，為何我要絞盡腦汁去理解《第四夜》或其他篇章？作者想讀者去猜嗎？還是不想？一般來說，寫作時運用符號與比喻，目的是令故事看來矇矓。作者想我們看得懂，卻非確確切切的懂。
I would like to pinpoint to 'The 8th Night'. The mood is surreal in the barber shop with windows and mirrors. Some objects we see there are real (the windows, the barber), some appear as reflections only (like 莊太郎and the lady), and some are unreal (the woman counting money disappears when I look around). It's just like the ten nights, this collection of ten stories with varying sense of reality, varying degree of flesh and blood. We know we are in a barber shop, but it also appears as a maze. We know where we are , but we also don't know where we are. It's like life; it's like the situation in which Japan was caught during Meiji modernization.
我想特別提出《第八夜》談一談。故事中，配置了窗戶與大鏡的理髮店，情調超現實。我們在店裡看見的東西，有的是真實（如窗，理髮師），有的只是倒影（如莊太郎及女人），有的是不真實的（如那個在數鈔票的女人，回頭看卻不見了）。這篇小說就代表了全部十個夜晚，十個短篇，每個小說有不同程度的真實性，不同程度的血肉。讀者知道，自己到一間理髮店裡來，但這裡也看似一座迷宮；我們知道身在何處，但同時又不知道。這就像生命本身，就像明治維新時期日本所墮進的境況。
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