Describe Regarding Books Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
| Title | : | Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories |
| Author | : | Ryūnosuke Akutagawa |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 268 pages |
| Published | : | October 31st 2006 by Penguin Classics (first published 1927) |
| Categories | : | Short Stories. Cultural. Japan. Fiction. Asian Literature. Japanese Literature. Classics |
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Paperback | Pages: 268 pages Rating: 4.13 | 5874 Users | 349 Reviews
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
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
- In a Bamboo Grove
- The Nose
- Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale
- The Spider Thread
- Hell Screen
UNDER THE SWORD
- Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum
- O-Gin
- Loyalty
MODERN TRAGICOMEDY
- The Story of a Head That Fell Off
- Green Onions
- Horse Legs
AKUTAGAWA'S OWN STORY
- Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years
- The Writer's Craft
- The Baby's Sickness
- Death Register
- The Life of a Stupid Man
- Spinning Gears
Details Books In Favor Of Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
| Original Title: | 羅生門 [Rashōmon] |
| ISBN: | 0143039849 (ISBN13: 9780143039846) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.penguin.co.uk/books/rashomon-and-seventeen-other-stories/9780143039846/ |
| Setting: | Japan |
Rating Regarding Books Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
Ratings: 4.13 From 5874 Users | 349 ReviewsCritique Regarding Books Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
One night I woke in the dark hours no longer able to sleep. After a while I accepted my semi-wakeful state and found my way to the sofa. There I settled under a blanket and flicked ideally through the TV channels, eventually I happened upon a film Ghost Dog, not apparently to be confused with Moondog (view spoiler)[ although to my mind ghost dogs and moondogs must be much of a muchness, no? (hide spoiler)], anyway the film seemed to be pleasing pretentious and about right for being neitherGood, but... Yes. I did it. I've committed one of the ultimate literary sacrileges of all time. I read Akutagawa Ryunosuke in translation when I could have read it in original Japanese. I am guilty as charged. I just couldn't resist a book with such a cool cover and Murakami's introduction plus his trusted Jay Rubin doing the translation. Having said that, I did read it along with the actual Japanese text in front of me to see how well Jay Rubin has grappled with difficult early 19th-century
Akutagawa is one of my favorite writers. He took his own life with barbiturates at age 35 and left behind some 300 stories, sketches, articles and literary experiments. In English he has appeared in over a dozen collections of the same 20-30 most famous stories retranslated a dozen times. This latest collection, translated by the consummate Jay Rubin, has a lovingly detailed introduction by the inimitable Haruki Murakami. It is a mere sampling of 18 stories from his impossibly good body of work.
Wow...just...wow.I never though I could find myself this immersed in a book before and finish it this quickly. The last time I finished a long book this quickly was 4-5 years ago when I read Jonathan Stroud's "The Amulet of Samarkand" in one night. This was a good book to start reading the night of my birthday. What a real treat indeed!I was expecting to finish this AFTER "A Man of All Seasons", which I was already over halfway done with and I got there from only two days worth of reading...but
Obviously the difficulty of rating collections of stories is the fact that they don't necessarily all rate equally. About a third of these stories are easily knock-out 5-star fantastic. The other two-thirds I'd rate mostly 4 stars with a few 3 stars. All worth reading and in general I think this is probably a good intro to Akutagawa's work in that it contains a nice cross-section of his work from the earliest historical stories to his later primarily autobiographical stories.I personally
I'm trying to work out whether I like these stories or not. They were powerful, interesting, weird and unexpected.
Verdant vignettes vibrate across the readers eyes, as the are drawn into the splendiferous similes which dance across the page, shimmering like the pale reflection of sun-light on pebbles in a Japanese garden. Akutagawa fused he aesthetics of haiku with the psychology of Dostoevsky and other Western writers; style and form are as central to his stories as structure, psychology and characters, yet few short story writers are able to match the sheer diversity of Akutagawas ouvre; whether it be
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