Rashomon
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Summary
Eleven representative short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa have been carefully selected, including famous pieces such as "Rashōmon," "The Nose," "Hell Screen," and "In a Grove," spanning his entire creative period and vividly presenting Akutagawa's literary world.
Haruki Murakami says: As classics passed down to later generations, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's novels never grow tiresome no matter how many times you read them.
Lu Xun, Osamu Dazai, Natsume Sōseki...
The creations of many celebrated authors have been influenced by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa!
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who want a systematic introduction to Ryūnosuke Akutagawa and the modern Japanese short story
- Readers who enjoy short stories and prefer cool narration and dissection of human nature
- Literature students or course readers who need a selected edition for reference
- Readers who have read some famous pieces and want to collect the representative works in one volume
Not a good fit for
- Readers who prefer warm, healing, light reading experiences
- Readers expecting long, continuous plots and character growth
- Those especially sensitive to depictions of darkness, death, and moral dilemmas
Reading tips
- Start with "Rashōmon" and "The Nose" to build a feel for the language, then move on to "Hell Screen" and "In a Grove"
- Pause after each story and ask whether the narrator is trustworthy before going on to the next
- Read alongside Lu Xun's translations or Osamu Dazai's works to grasp the lines of influence
- Read the stories in order of composition to observe changes in Akutagawa's technique
About the publisher
Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House is a publisher known for its literary titles, with a catalogue spanning foreign literature, world classics, classical Chinese literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and mystery and detective fiction. Judging from the more than 1,100 books in the database, the press publishes foreign classics such as Crime and Punishment, Snow Country, The Complete Sherlock Holmes and Letter from an Unknown Woman, as well as Chinese classical and modern literary works including Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary and Wu Jingzi's The Scholars. In terms of translators and authors, translations by Cao Guowei and Tan Jinghua appear in its foreign literature titles, and the authors involved include Dostoevsky, Kawabata Yasunari, Conan Doyle and Zweig. Its publishing character lies in introducing Chinese and foreign literary classics side by side, balancing popular and serious works and attending to both readability and literary value. Public information is limited; the above is a brief overview based solely on the books in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 罗生门
- 鼻子
- 山药粥
- 地狱变
- 蜜柑
- 秋
- 南京的基督
- 竹林中
- 侏儒警语
- 河童
- 某傻子的一生
- 译后记 芥川龙之介的“诗与真实”
FAQ
Which pieces are included in this collection?
I haven't read Akutagawa—can I start directly with this book?
What is the relationship between "In a Grove" and the film Rashōmon?
Is it suitable for reading in one sitting?
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About the author
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.
Zhu Jiarong is a Chinese translator long active in the field of introducing foreign literature. Public information about her is limited, and details of her life, such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background, are not clearly documented. Judging from the 32 works included in the database, her translation work centers on modern and contemporary Japanese literature, covering representative works by major writers such as Natsume Soseki, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Mishima Yukio, Tanizaki Junichiro, and Abe Kobo, including I Am a Cat, Rashomon, Shunkinsho, and Kokoro. These translations are mostly classified as foreign literature, indicating her sustained engagement with rendering Japanese fiction into Chinese. Her translations are known for staying close to the tone of the original and preserving narrative rhythm, offering Chinese readers relatively reliable versions through which to understand Japanese literature and exerting a certain influence in translation and publishing circles.
