The Heretic Sect · In a Bamboo Grove cover

The Heretic Sect · In a Bamboo Grove

Rating 4.4
Word count
187K words
Chapters
154
ISBN
9787532796427

Tags

Summary

This series is based on the eight-volume Complete Works of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa published by Chikuma Shobō, presenting Akutagawa's creative career in full. This volume, The Heretical Sect and In a Grove, collects more than thirty of Akutagawa's finest stories. The Heretical Sect continues from Hell Screen, telling the story of the mischievous young master from that work; In a Grove tells a tale of conflicting accounts that reveals the darkness of human nature. In 1950, the renowned director Akira Kurosawa combined Akutagawa's In a Grove with Rashōmon into the film Rashōmon, which won multiple major international awards and brought Japanese cinema to the world.

Editor's review

Based on the eight-volume Chikuma Shobō complete works, this volume collects more than thirty of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's stories, offering broad coverage and a fairly complete picture of his short fiction. The Heretical Sect picks up the story of the mischief-loving young master from Hell Screen, showing Akutagawa's self-continuity in character and theme; In a Grove, with its conflicting accounts, reveals the darkness of human nature and was later combined with Rashōmon by Akira Kurosawa into the film Rashōmon, which won multiple international awards. For readers, this is a reliable selection for entering Akutagawa's short-story world, and through In a Grove one can understand how his narrative technique influenced later film and television. It suits systematic reading of Akutagawa's work and also rereading the text alongside the film.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who want to read Akutagawa's short stories systematically
  • Film fans interested in In a Grove and the source of Kurosawa's Rashōmon
  • Literary readers who enjoy short fiction and the darker sides of human nature
  • Students and enthusiasts who need a reliable complete-works base text for reference

Not a good fit for

  • Readers seeking a single full-length narrative
  • Readers who prefer warm, bright, uplifting stories
  • Those with low tolerance for dark themes such as the evil in human nature

Reading tips

  1. Start with In a Grove, then compare it with Kurosawa's Rashōmon to see how the adaptation differs.
  2. Read in order of the table of contents and note how The Heretical Sect echoes Hell Screen.
  3. Pause after every few stories and note changes in Akutagawa's narrative perspective.
  4. Treat this volume as a selected edition and read it alongside the other volumes.

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 邪宗门
  3. 一
  4. 二
  5. 三
  6. 四
  7. 五
  8. 六
  9. 七
  10. 八
  11. 九
  12. 十
  13. 十一
  14. 十二
  15. 十三
  16. 十四
  17. 十五
  18. 十六
  19. 十七
  20. 十八
  21. 十九
  22. 二十
  23. 二十一
  24. 二十二
  25. 二十三
  26. 二十四
  27. 二十五
  28. 二十六
  29. 二十七
  30. 二十八
  31. 二十九
  32. 三十
  33. 三十一
  34. 三十二
  35. 枯野抄
  36. 圣克利斯朵夫传
  37. 小序
  38. 一 山居
  39. 二 朝福夕祸
  40. 三 与魔鬼为伍
  41. 四 往生天国
  42. 妖婆
  43. 魔术
  44. 舞会
  45. 一
  46. 二
  47. 尾生之信
  48. 素戋呜尊
  49. 一
  50. 二
  51. 三
  52. 四
  53. 五
  54. 六
  55. 七
  56. 八
  57. 九
  58. 十
  59. 十一
  60. 十二
  61. 十三
  62. 十四
  63. 十五
  64. 十六
  65. 十七
  66. 十八
  67. 十九
  68. 二十
  69. 二十一
  70. 二十二
  71. 二十三
  72. 二十四
  73. 二十五
  74. 二十六
  75. 二十七
  76. 二十八
  77. 二十九
  78. 三十
  79. 三十一
  80. 三十二
  81. 三十三
  82. 三十四
  83. 三十五
  84. 老年素戋呜尊
  85. 一
  86. 二
  87. 三
  88. 四
  89. 五
  90. 六
  91. 七
  92. 八
  93. 九
  94. 十
  95. 南京的基督
  96. 一
  97. 二
  98. 三
  99. 杜子春
  100. 一
  101. 二
  102. 三
  103. 四
  104. 五
  105. 六
  106. 弃儿
  107. 秋山图
  108. 山鹬
  109. 奇异的重逢
  110. 一
  111. 二
  112. 三
  113. 四
  114. 五
  115. 六
  116. 七
  117. 八
  118. 九
  119. 十
  120. 十一
  121. 十二
  122. 十三
  123. 十四
  124. 十五
  125. 十六
  126. 十七
  127. 火神阿耆尼
  128. 一
  129. 二
  130. 三
  131. 四
  132. 五
  133. 六
  134. 奇妙的故事
  135. 奇遇
  136. 往生画卷
  137. 母亲
  138. 一
  139. 二
  140. 三
  141. 好色
  142. 一 画姿
  143. 二 樱花
  144. 三 雨夜
  145. 四 好色问答
  146. 五 为粪便之美而感叹的男人
  147. 竹林中
  148. 推官审讯樵夫供词
  149. 推官审讯行脚僧供词
  150. 推官审讯捕快供词
  151. 推官审讯老妪供词
  152. 多襄丸的供词
  153. 一个女人在清水寺的忏悔
  154. 亡灵借巫女之口的供词

FAQ

What is the relationship between In a Grove and the film Rashōmon?
In 1950, Akira Kurosawa combined two of Akutagawa's works, In a Grove and Rashōmon, into the film Rashōmon, which won multiple major international awards. The film is therefore not an adaptation of In a Grove alone but a fusion of the two; readers can compare both when reading the originals.
Which representative works are included?
This volume collects more than thirty of Akutagawa's finest stories. The Heretical Sect continues the story of the mischief-loving young master from Hell Screen, and In a Grove tells a tale of conflicting accounts that reveals the darkness of human nature. Overall, it gives a fairly complete picture of Akutagawa's short fiction.
What base text is this edition based on?
This series is based on the eight-volume Complete Works of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa published by Chikuma Shobō, presenting Akutagawa's creative career in full. This volume is one of them, collecting more than thirty stories; the base text is reliable and suitable for systematic reading and research reference.

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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.

魏大海 Author

Wei Dahai is a scholar-translator of Japanese literature whose name frequently appears as the translator of foreign-literature titles. Public information about him is limited: his dates, birthplace, and educational background are not clearly documented. Judging from the sixteen works held in the collection, however, the focus of his work is clear. He has devoted himself to translating modern and contemporary Japanese fiction, especially the representative works of Yasunari Kawabata and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. The former includes Snow Country, The Old Capital, The Sound of the Mountain, House of the Sleeping Beauties, The Master of Go, and a ten-volume collection of Kawabata's novels; the latter includes Rashomon and Hell Screen and The Akutagawa Gateway and In a Grove. These translations are aimed at general readers and seek to capture both the lyrical and the austere qualities of the originals, balancing Kawabata's delicate melancholy against Akutagawa's terse intensity. For Chinese readers, Wei Dahai's translations are a familiar route into classic modern Japanese literature and are widely read in both casual reading and teaching contexts.

高慧勤 Author

Gao Huiqin is an important Chinese-language translator of Japanese literature. Public information about her is limited, and no clear records of her dates of birth and death, nationality, or educational background are available. Twenty-six of her works are held in the collection, mainly classics of foreign literature. Her representative translations include Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country and The Old Capital, as well as Rashomon: A Collection of Classic Works by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (illustrated collector's edition). These works show that she has long been devoted to translating modern and contemporary Japanese classic fiction, with selections centering on representative works by writers such as Kawabata Yasunari and Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Her translations strive to preserve the delicate psychological description and understated aesthetic quality of the originals, with elegant and restrained language, serving as an important bridge for Chinese readers of Japanese literary classics.

侯为 Author

Hou Wei is a translator and author credited by name in Chinese book records, though reliable public information about his life is limited: his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not documented. Judging from the thirteen titles listed in the database, his work centers on translating Japanese literature. His representative translations include Toyoko Yamasaki's The Great White Tower and her trilogy dissecting the dark side of reality, as well as Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country, The Master of Go, Thousand Cranes, and The Dancing Girl, along with The Evil Sect and In a Grove and Talent. These works fall mainly under foreign literature and social fiction, with some essays and miscellaneous writings. Their themes range from the medical system and journalistic ethics to family fate and the subtleties of human nature, reflecting a sustained engagement with long-form narrative and socially critical texts. His translations are known for staying close to the originals and preserving their narrative rhythm, offering Chinese readers fairly complete access to modern and contemporary Japanese fiction.

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