Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

A stylishly original collection of seven newly translated stories from the iconic Japanese writerThe stories in this fantastical, unconventional collection are subtly wrought depictions of the darkness of our desires. From an isolated bamboo grove, to a lantern festival in Tokyo, to the Emperor's court, they offer glimpses into moments of madness, murder, and obsession. Vividly translated by Bryan Karetnyk, they unfold in elegant, sometimes laconic, always gripping prose.Akutagawa's stories are characterised by their stylish originality; they are stories to be read again and again.

Akutagawa’s magical final work is a short novel with a magic spell all its own—poignant, fantastical, wry, melancholic, and witty The Kappa is a creature from Japanese folklore known for dragging unwary toddlers to their deaths in a scaly, child-sized creature, looking something like a frog, but with a sharp, pointed beak and an oval-shaped saucer on top of its head, which hardens with age.Akutagawa’s Kappa is narrated by Patient No. 23, a madman in a lunatic he recounts how, while out hiking in Kamikochi, he spots a Kappa. He decides to chase it and, like Alice pursuing the White Rabbit, he tumbles down a hole, out of the human world and into the realm of the Kappas. There he is well looked after, in fact almost made a pet as a human, he is a novelty. He makes friends and spends his time learning about their world, exploring the seemingly ridiculous ways of the Kappa, but noting many—not always flattering—parallels to Japanese mores regarding morality, legal justice, economics, and sex. Alas, when the patient eventually returns to the human world, he becomes disgusted by humanity and, like Gulliver missing the Houyhnhnms, he begins to pine for his old friends the Kappas, rather as if he has been forced to take leave of Toad of Toad Hall…

'What is the life of a human being - a drop of dew, a flash of lightning? This is so sad, so sad.' Autobiographical stories from one of Japan's masters of modernist story-telling. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) Akutagawa's Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories is also available in Penguin Classics.

This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master's stories, from the source for the movie Rashōmon to his later, more autobiographical writings. Ryūnosuke 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. ‘Rashōmon’ 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. A WORLD IN DECAY - Rashōmon (Sep 1915) - In a Bamboo Grove (Dec 1921) - The Nose (Jan 1916) - Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale (May 1919) - The Spider Thread (Apr 1918) - Hell Screen (1918) UNDER THE SWORD - Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum (Dec 7th 1916) - O-Gin (Aug 1922) - Loyalty (Feb 1917) MODERN TRAGICOMEDY - The Story of a Head That Fell Off (Dec 1917) - Green Onions (Dec 1919) - Horse Legs (Jan 1925) AKUTAGAWA'S OWN STORY - Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years (Dec 9th 1924) - The Writer's Craft (Mar 1924) - The Baby's Sickness (Jul 1923) - Death Register (Sep 1926) - The Life of a Stupid Man (Jun 1927 posthumous) - Spinning Gears (Jun 1927 posthumous)

'Oh the cruelty of time, that destroys all things!' Beguiling, strange and hair-raising tales from early 20th century Japan: Nagai's Behind the Prison, Uno's Closet LLB and Akutagawa's deeply macabre General Kim. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

"In a Grove" is an early modernist short story consisting of seven varying accounts of the murder of a samurai, Kanazawa no Takehiro, whose corpse has been found in a bamboo forest near Kyoto. Each section simultaneously clarifies and obfuscates what the reader knows about the murder, eventually creating a complex and contradictory vision of events that brings into question humanity's ability or willingness to perceive and transmit objective truth. It is the basis for Kurosawa's "Rashoumon."

Ever since his death in 1927, Ryunosuke Akutagawa has been hailed as one of the greatest short story writers in world literature. Most famous for his story Rashomon and the Kurosawa movie it inspired, Akutagawa’s wide range of fiction is beautifully displayed in this newly reissued collection of his stories. With characteristic lyricism and great style, the stories here capture the strange world of Akutagawa, from the slow, gentle death of a haiku master (“Withered Fields”) to a vicious, marauding gang and their bloody fight with samurai (“The Robbers”), and the sly tale told from a dog’s perspective of his escape from home (“The Dog, Shiro”). Throughout these stories, Akutagawa captures the often confused spirit of a Japan undergoing great change and confronting modernity at the turn of the last century. But these stories remain timeless classics, and any reader, whether a fan of Akutagawa or someone discovering him for the first time, will find wonderful delight in these unusual stories. Previously published in a Liveright edition as Exotic Japanese Stories.

Nueve relatos de distinta temática en los que el protagonista indiscutible es el perro, un animal muy querido y respetado en Japón.

ต้นเหตุของเรื่องทั้งหมดเริ่มต้นด้วยการที่อะคุตะงะวะเขียนประโยคที่ว่า "เรื่องเกิดขึ้นในตอนพลบค่ำของเย็นวันหนึ่ง ชายคนใช้ของซามูไรผู้หนึ่งหลบฝนอยู่ใต้ประตูราโชมอน..." นั่นคือ ราโชมอน (1914) แต่ให้หลังกว่า 8 ปี ประโยคที่ทำให้ผู้อ่านตื่นตระหนกยิ่งขึ้นคือ "คำให้การของคนตัดไม้ต่อเจ้าหน้าที่พิทักษ์เมือง" นั่นคือ ในป่าละเมาะ (1922) เรื่องเล่าของทั้งสองเรื่องสั้นมีประเด็นน่าสนใจจนพาลให้เรื่องราวทั้งสองผูกโยงกัน จนกลายเป็นตราประทับที่เรียกกันติดปากว่า 'ปรากฏการณ์ราโชมอน' ปรากฏการณ์ของ 'หนึ่งความจริง' แต่ 'หลายความหมาย' ปรากฏการณ์ของ 'หนึ่งความจริง' แต่ 'หลายการตีความ' กล่าวได้ว่า มันคือคำถามต่อความจริงที่เกิดขึ้นเพียงครั้งเดียว! ไม่มีเทค ไม่มีการถ่ายทำใหม่ ไม่มีการอีดิดแก้ไขขัดเกลา แต่ทำไม การรับรู้และความเข้าใจในความจริงชุดนั้นจึงต่างกันราวขาวกับดำ...ทำไม? 'ปรากฏการณ์ราโชมอน' จึงไม่ใช่เป็นเพียงเรื่องสั้นสองเรื่องของนักเขียนนามอุโฆษชาวญี่ปุ่นเท่านั้น หากเป็นการส่งผลสะเทือนต่อสำนึกในการรับรู้ความจริงของมนุษย์ และเป็นการพิสูจน์มาตรวัดทาง 'หลักการ' ว่า มนุษย์ที่มีหัวใจที่แท้ จะใช้การชั่ง ตวง วัด แบบไหนต่อปรากฏการณ์ที่อยู่ตรงหน้า

"There can be no doubt that Akutagawa had more individuality than any other writer of his time and has left in Japanese literature a mass of artistic work, often grotesque and curious, that, while it undoubtedly angers the proletarian experimenters who now hold the stage and fight with lusty pens and a highly developed class consciousness against all that he stood for, will continue to live as long as men go on treasuring the fancies their fellows from time to time set down with care on paper."--Glen W. Shaw

"Rashōmon" (Japanese: 羅生門) is a short story by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke based on tales from the Konjaku Monogatarishū. A man considering whether or not to become a thief meets a woman stealing hair from corpses. Their conversation explores the morality of theft.

Writing at the beginning of the twentieth century, Ryunosuke Akutagawa created disturbing stories out of Japan's cultural upheaval. Whether his fictions are set centuries past or close to the present, Akutagawa was a modernist, writing in polished, superbly nuanced prose subtly exposing human needs and flaws. "In a Grove," which was the basis for Kurosawa's classic film Rashomon, tells the chilling story of the killing of a samurai through the testimony of witnesses, including the spirit of the murdered man. The fable-like "Yam Gruel" is an account of desire and humiliation, but one in which the reader's sympathy is thoroughly unsettled. And in "The Martyr," a beloved orphan raised by Jesuit priests is exiled when he refuses to admit that he made a local girl pregnant. He regains their love and respect only at the price of his life. All six tales in the collection show Akutagawa as a master storyteller and an exciting voice of modern Japanese literature.

"Rashōmon" (Japanese: 羅生門) is a short story by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke based on tales from the Konjaku Monogatarishū. A man considering whether or not to become a thief meets a woman stealing hair from corpses. Their conversation explores the morality of theft.

O noapte cu intamplari sinistre sub vechea poarta Rashomon. O crima relatata de martori care se contrazic intre ei si-si asuma, fiecare pe cont propriu, faradelegea. O vizita care-si afla deznodamantul intr-un paragraf al unei carti de Strindberg. O poveste despre paradis si iad. O parabola politica cu creaturi ale folclorului japonez. O splendida efemerida, o scena banala, de-o clipa, petrecuta intr-un tren. Sase povestiri care nu seamana intre ele decat printr-un singur detaliu: sunt scrise cu mana de maestru. Daca exista un sentiment al capodoperei, il veti simti citind povestirile lui Akutagawa. Intrebarea criticului: Cititi cu mare atentie detaliile relatarilor contradictorii din povestirea Intr-un lastaris si incercati sa vedeti daca este vreo voce care spune adevarul. Cine a comis, totusi, crima? Observatia criticului: Firul de paianjen este varianta orientala a povestii cu firul de ceapa din Fratii Karamazov de Dostoievski.

Un día de mediados de junio, el dueño de la frutería nos regaló una gatita tricolor, joven. Mis hijos, mi mujer y yo observamos al nuevo integrante de la familia con mucha atención. Mi esposa tomó al animal, le acarició la barbilla y las orejas, y este emitió un sonido extraño como si tuviera algo hirviendo en el interior de su pecho. Yo sabía que los gatos ronroneaban, pero nunca había escuchado un sonido similar. En cuanto la dejó en el suelo, la gata empezó a jugar con todo lo que encontró a su paso, incluso con los papeles. Sus movimientos eran ágiles y elegantes. Los niños no tardaron en encariñarse con ella… Cinco relatos de distinta temática que tienen como protagonista indiscutible a los gatos, un animal que los japoneses adoran y que forma parte no solo de su folclore y mitología, sino también de su cultura popular. Todo un símbolo en el país del sol naciente.

Japón, primera mitad del siglo XX, roto el aislacionismo el país se está militarizando y transformándose en una potencia emergente en Asia. En su interior, pese a los recelos de los poderes conservadores, el gobierno de Meiji está gestando los primeros intentos de establecer una democracia moderna. En medio de esta convulsa sociedad, surgen tres de los mejores escritores del Japón contemporáneo: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Kenji Miyazawa y Osamu Dazai, quienes a pesar de su temprana muerte, dejaron un legado insuperable en la literatura japonesa. En esta antología, lectura imprescindible para todo aquel que quiera disfrutar de la prosa exquisita de tres de los mejores escritores de la literatura asiática de todos los tiempos, disfrutaremos de una selección de relatos que nos arrastrarán a un país plagado de mitos y leyendas ancestrales, un remoto lugar en el que misterio y realidad van de la mano.

Bu kitaptaki hikâyeler, Ryunosuke Akutagava'nın öykülerinden bir seçmedir. Büyük bir ustalıkla yazdığı çeşitli biçim ve içerikteki öyküleriyle kendinden sonra gelen kuşaklara örnek olmuştur. Japon film yönetmeni Akira Kurosava, kitaba adını veren öyküyü "Çalılıklar Arasında" isimli öyküyle birleştirerek Raşomon ismiyle sinemaya uyarladı ve 1951 yılında Venedik Uluslararası Film Festivali'nde birincilik ödülünü kazandı. "Akutagava, ilk hikâyesi olan "Raşomon"da işinden atılmış bir uşaktan bahseder. Uşak, Raşomon kulesinde, peruk yapmak için ölü bir kadının saçlarını yolmakta olan yaşlı bir cadaloz görür. "yaşamak için bunu yapmaya mecbur olduğumu bilseydi, belki bana kızmazdı" diyerek durumu açıklamaya çalışır yaşlı cadı. Uşak alaycı bir şekilde "Yaa, öyle mi? O zaman hırsızlık yapma sırası bende. Yapmazsam ben de açlıktan öleceğim" der ve elbiselerini üstünden çıkarıp alarak kadını bir tekmeyle kokmuş cesetlerin arasına yuvarlar. Akutagava'nın yaratmış olduğu ırz düşmanları, katiller ve fanatikler üzerine hiçbir zaman merhamet güneşi doğmaz; çünkü yazar, tıpkı başı dumanlı Fuji dağı gibi insanların aczine uzaktan ve soğuk bakmaktadır. Ölümünden birkaç ay önce yazmış olduğu şiirde yazarın nihilizmi çok çarpıcı bir biçimde gözlenmektedir.