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

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

by Ryunosuke Akutagawa · 1982

+ Want to read

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.

Genre
literary fictionliterary fictionMore like thisLess of this
Setting
1980s1980sMore like thisLess of thisJapanJapanMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 207 pages
Form
short storiesshort storiesMore like thisLess of this

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked The Essential Akutagawa: Rashomon, Hell Screen, Cogwheels, a Fool's Life and Other Short Fiction? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Essential Akutagawa: Rashomon, Hell Screen, Cogwheels, a Fool's Life and Other Short Fiction. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy Osamu Dazai · 1993 Shares japanese literature, Japan, short stories
  2. The Counterfeiter and Other Stories Yasushi Inoue · 1949 Shares japanese, short stories, Japan
  3. Seven Japanese Tales Jun'ichiro Tanizaki · 1963 Shares Japan, japanese literature, japanese
  4. A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga · 1962 Shares Japan, japanese literature, japanese
See more recommendations →

“People who read The Essential Akutagawa: Rashomon, Hell Screen, Cogwheels, a Fool's Life and Other Short Fiction tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of Old Edo Kido Okamoto · 1937
  2. Ten Nights' Dreams Soseki Natsume, Lovetta R. Lorenz, Takumi Kashima · 1908
  3. Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares · 1942
  4. Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels Kenzaburo Oe · 1966

“If you want more of the same (literary fiction), start with these.”

  1. Stained Glass Elegies Shusaku Endo · 1986
  2. The Paper Door and Other Stories Naoya Shiga · 1987
  3. Boy Takeshi Bito · 1987
  4. The Shooting Gallery Yuko Tsushima · 1988

“If it was the Japan that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories · 1997
  2. Toddler-Hunting Other Stories Kono Taeko · 1996
  3. Patriotism Yukio Mishima · 1941
  4. The Diving Pool: Three Novellas Yoko Ogawa · 1990

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. 3 X 33: Short Fiction by 33 Writers Winegardner · 2004
  2. The First Days of Jesus: The Story of the Incarnation Andreas J. Kostenberger, Alexander Stewart · 2015
  3. The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath Joe Lieberman, David Klinghoffer · 2011
  4. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind Joseph Murphy, Ian McMahan · 1962

Report a problem