Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories

The Japanese masters stories from the inspiration for the film Rashmon to his later more autobiographical writings are presented in this collection in a masterful new translation. One of Japans most prominent stylists Rynosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927) was a modernist master whose short stories are distinguished by extremely creative imagery cynicism beauty and wild humour. Rashmon and In a Bamboo Grove which depict a past in which morality is turned upside down served as inspiration for Kurosawas magnificent film while stories like The Nose O-Gin and Loyalty paint a rich and imaginative picture of a mediaeval Japan populated by Shoguns and priests vagrants and peasants. Akutagawa also relied on his own experiences for devastating effect in later works like Death Registry The Life of a Dumb Man and Spinning Gears exposing his great melancholy and fear of going insane in gorgeously moving impressionistic tales.