Yourcenar Selection 1: Memoirs of Hadrian Hadrian, one of the five good Roman emperors, abandoned the expansionist policies of his predecessors and focused on domestic development. He was an emperor who loved travel, Greece, art, and beautiful young men. Facing illness and accepting death, the emperor reflects on his eventful life and speaks to his successor. This "portrait through voice" allows the author to live and narrate this unique life from within. This masterpiece of the author's mature period beautifully blends a psychological novel with historical meditation. Commentary by Toshiyuki Horie. Yourcenar Selection 3: Alexis, or the Treatise of Vain Combat / Coup de Grâce A selection of Yourcenar's legacy, praised as a classic of 20th-century literature, in six volumes. Volume 3 includes "Alexis," a epistolary debut novel in which the protagonist writes to his wife explaining his reasons for leaving her in order to live true to his own sexuality, along with three other early works published before the war. Yourcenar Selection 4: As the Water Flows / Fire / Oriental Tales / The Blue Story This volume includes a collection of short stories, centered on "As the Water Flows," a work that underwent revisions throughout her life, and "Fire," a prose poem that reworks mythological legends into a modern context. We will use recycled materials.