Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

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Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

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Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

A collectible hardcover edition of the best stories by the father of the Japanese short story--including the two that inspired Kurosawa's classic samurai film about the subjectivity of truth--featuring an introduction by Haruki Murakami

A Penguin Vitae Edition


Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is one of Japan's foremost stylists--a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty, and wild humor. "Rashōmon" and "In a Bamboo Grove" inspired Akira 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.

Penguin Vitae--loosely translated as "Penguin of one's life"--is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa was the author of over 100 short stories. Described as one of the best-read men of his generation, he received a degree in English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University and published translations of Anatole France and W.B. Yeats. In 1927, Ryunosuke Akutagawa committed suicide at the age of thirty-five.

New Foreword by:
Seiji M. Lippit is Professor of Asian Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Topographies of Japanese Modernism and the editor of The Essential Akutagawa. He has written widely on 20th century Japanese literature and translated numerous works of fiction and criticism.

Translated by:
Howard Hibbett is Professor Emeritus of Japanese literature at Harvard University where he was Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies from 1985 to 1988. His publications include many translations and works on Japanese language and literature.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780143137887
ISBN 10 0143137883
Title Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
Author Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Series Penguin Vitae
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published 2023-11-14
Number of pages 336
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.