The Essential Akutagawa: Rashomon, Hell Screen, Cogwheels, A Fool's Life and Other Short Fiction

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Marsilio, 1999 - Fiction - 207 pages
Akutagawa's voice is one of the most remarkable in modern Japanese fiction: an acutely intelligent mind, a humiliated soul, engaging as readily with Baudelaire as with Confucius. These narratives and vignettes -- some having received little attention until now -- delicately dovetail ancient myth with modern reflection. Akutagawa combines Eastern sentiment with Western thought to astonishing effect, offering a uniquely moving insight into mental and social fragmentation.

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Contents

Rashomon
3
The Nose
11
Kesa and Morito
21
Copyright

10 other sections not shown

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About the author (1999)

Brilliant, sensitive, neurotic, Akutagawa Ryunosuke left over 100 stories before his suicide at age 35. Feudal fables are often the source for his tales, but Akutagawa also brought his knowledge of several world literatures to enrich his writing. His best-known story, "In a Grove" ("Yabu no naka"), has become a play and was made into the prizewinning movie Rashomon by Kurosawa Akira (see Vol. 3).

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