Rashomon

Name: Rashomon
ISBN: 9787222132405

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa / 赵玉皎Yunnan People's Publishing House · ChinaDec 2021

4.2

Word count: 182K words
Chapters: 31
ISBN: 9787222132405

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Summary

Would you rather live in blissful ignorance, or in pain but with awareness? Akutagawa Ryunosuke, author of Rashomon, chose the latter. He saw life as 'a book with many missing pages' and as 'a box of matches' — to take it too seriously is ridiculous, not seriously enough is dangerous. At twenty-three he wrote the masterpiece 'Rashomon'; at thirty, 'In a Bamboo Grove,' the story that made Kurosawa an international master of cinema; at thirty-five, leaving behind 'a vague unease about the future,' he ended his life with sleeping pills. In his brief career he wrote 148 short stories, with fresh material and exquisite, austere prose. Though called an 'aesthetic school' writer, he said, 'I write only to create the poet within my own world.' His tales are steeped in tragedy — fallen noblewomen, warriors hollowed by revenge, an artist smiling as his daughter is burned alive for art. He captures the cold, awkward, embarrassing facets of human nature without exposing them, and his refined prose awakens compassion. This edition presents 28 stories translated from Japan's Aozora Bunko, spanning his early, middle, and late periods, with an introduction, over 100 annotations, and background notes by scholar Zhao Yuyao.

Editor's review

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's short stories are known for their cold, exquisite precision. This volume selects 28 of them, covering his early, middle, and late periods, making it a reliable anthology for getting to know this "art-for-art's-sake" writer. Akutagawa excels at probing the awkward and indifferent corners of daily life without deliberately exposing them, and his beautiful prose instead stirs the reader's compassion and tolerance. The famous pieces such as "Rashōmon" and "In a Grove" need no introduction; equally memorable are his stories of declining aristocrats, vengeful samurai, and painters who become almost coldly ruthless for their art, which linger long after the book is closed. The translation is based on texts from Japan's Aozora Bunko; the language is clean and restrained and preserves the flavor of the original well. It is suited to slow reading in quiet moments, one or two stories at a time, leaving room to ponder the subtleties of human nature; it also works as an introductory anthology of modern Japanese short fiction, from which one may go on to read Natsume Sōseki, Dazai Osamu, and others.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature lovers who want to read Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's short stories systematically
Readers who prefer a cold, exquisite style and stories about human nature
Students and self-learners in courses on modern Japanese literature
General readers seeking an introduction to modern and contemporary Japanese fiction through short stories

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer light, warm stories with happy endings
People who find depictions of tragedy and the dark side of human nature oppressive or uncomfortable
Young readers with little life experience

Reading tips

Start with the two representative stories "Rashōmon" and "In a Grove," then read through the periods in the order arranged in the book.
Pause briefly after each story and reflect on the gap between the narrator and the truth, to appreciate Akutagawa's narrative technique.
Watch Kurosawa's film Rashōmon alongside the book to understand the multiple perspectives in "In a Grove."
Keep a pen to mark lines that move you; Akutagawa's prose is dense, and rereading often yields new discoveries.

About the publisher

Yunnan People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Yunnan People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher with foreign literature and philosophical works as important publishing directions. Its representative books include Les Misérables (3 volumes), The Republic, Timaeus, Gitanjali, A Ship at Sea, a Horse in the Mountains: Poems of Lorca, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood, The Harmony of the World, and Xinmin Shuo, covering categories such as foreign literature, Western philosophy, literature, popular science, and history. Its author resources include Victor Hugo, Li Yumin, Plato, He Xiangdi, Song Jijie, Tagore, Xiao Xingzheng, and Federico García Lorca, among Chinese and foreign writers and translators. The press is adept at combining classic works with quality translations, balancing academic value and readability; public information on its fuller publishing features and plans is limited.

版权信息
导读
罗生门
鼻子
山药粥
手绢
烟草与魔鬼
大石内藏助的一天
女体
黄粱梦
英雄之器
蜘蛛之丝
地狱变
枯野抄
毛利先生
蜜橘
疑惑
舞会
尾生之信
秋
南京的基督
杜子春
秋山图
竹林中
六宫小姐
小白
丝女手记
点鬼簿
河童
一个傻子的一生
译后记

FAQ

Which periods of his work does this book cover?

According to the publisher, the book selects 28 short stories by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, fully covering his brilliant early period, his middle period juxtaposing past and present, and his late period of painfully candid confession, allowing readers to see the overall evolution of his style.

I haven't read Akutagawa before; where should I start?

Start with "Rashōmon" and "In a Grove." They are well known and of moderate length, and you will quickly sense Akutagawa's cold, exquisite style and his use of multiple perspectives before moving on to other subjects.

How is the translation—is it indirect or directly from Japanese?

According to the publisher, the book is translated from Japan's Aozora Bunko by Zhao Yujiao. Aozora Bunko is a digital library of Japanese public-domain literature, and translating from it generally preserves the original well; the style is clean and restrained.

Why are Akutagawa's works often called "tragic"?

The publisher notes that his stories feature abandoned declining aristocrats, samurai who fall into emptiness after revenge, and a painter who smiles as his daughter burns to death for the sake of art. He excels at capturing the indifferent and cramped side of human nature without directly exposing it, so the stories carry a sense of tragedy and compassion.

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About the author

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa Author · Japan · 1892–1927

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927) was a Japanese novelist of the Taishō period. Born in Tokyo, he was originally surnamed Niihara and later took the surname Akutagawa after being adopted into the Akutagawa family. In 1915 he published "Rashōmon," which won the admiration of Natsume Sōseki. He is known for short stories such as "The Nose," "Hell Screen," and "In a Grove," and is regarded as the father of the Japanese short story; the Akutagawa Prize is named after him. His works often draw on history and classical sources, written in a restrained, precise style that reveals the subtle and absurd sides of human nature within a compact form. They are commonly classified as foreign literature and classics, and some pieces appear in examination selections. In 1927 he took sleeping pills and died at the age of thirty-five.

赵玉皎 Author

Zhao Yujiao is an author about whom limited public information is available. Two of her Chinese works are currently known, The Dancing Girl and Rashomon, which are often classified as classics and world masterpieces. Judging from the subject matter of these two works, what she engages with and presents is largely drawn from classic works of modern Japanese literature, dealing with themes such as human fate, the subtleties of human nature, and emotional entanglements, with a style that tends toward serious literary expression and delicate narrative development. Because information such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background is not found in the existing materials, her personal history cannot be described in detail at present; however, the choice of works suggests a sustained interest in and commitment to translating classic East Asian literature, especially modern Japanese fiction. Such works usually require translators to balance the tone, rhythm, and cultural context of the original, so her textual style tends to be faithful to the source and attentive to detail. For readers who wish to become acquainted with classic modern Japanese short stories, these two works can serve as references for introductory and further reading, while more information about the author herself remains to be supplemented by further public materials.