PublishedPenguin Uk, March 2006 |
ISBN9780140449709 |
FormatSoftcover, 320 pages |
Dimensions19.6cm × 13cm × 1.7cm |
A unique new selection, bringing together Akutagawa's undisputed masterpieces and several less well known tales, never before translated into English.
Ry nosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan's foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. 'Rash mon' and 'In a Bamboo Grove' inspired Kurosawa's magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as 'The Nose', 'O-Gin' and 'Loyalty' paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as 'Death Register', 'The Life of a Stupid Man' and 'Spinning Gears', Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.
