Ryunosuke Akutagawa

'Enchanting and sometimes terrifying' Jorge Luis Borges'Exquisite' Sunday TimesA lone mountain hiker falls through a hole in the ground into Kappaland, inhabited by creatures that are half tiger, half turtle. Here, children choose whether to be born, unemployed workers are turned into sandwich meat, and human artists are enshrined as saints. Despite the Kappas' strange and often gruesome ways, it's a return to the world above that drives the narrator to madness in Akutagawa's only novel. Written as Japan entered an era of aggressive imperialism, this surreal satire is a darkly comic cry of protest.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by Geoffrey Bownas.Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) was one of Japan's leading literary figures in the Taisho period. Regarded as the father of the Japanese short story, he produced over 150 in his short lifetime. Haunted by the fear that he would inherit his mother's madness, Akutagawa suffered from worsening mental health problems towards the end of his life and committed suicide aged 35 by taking an overdose of barbiturates. Pushkin Press also publish a collection of his short stories, Murder in the Age of Enlightenment.Geoffrey Bownas (1923-2011) was born in West Yorkshire. He learned Japanese while serving in the army during the Second World War, and went on to establish Oxford's department of Japanese studies. He taught, translated and worked to further British-Japanese cultural understanding and international collaboration throughout his life, earning a CBE and Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure.

A chilling horror story of artistic obsession and the price of perfection, based on the classic tale by Ryunosuke Akutagawa!Hell Screen follows Yoshihide, a renowned but tormented artist who, despite his talent, is rude, lazy and avaricious. Known for his abrasive demeanor, Yoshihide''s one light is the deep affection he harbors for his daughter, Yuzuki. When she enters the service of the powerful Lord Horikawa, tensions rise between the artist and the lord''s court, especially after disturbing rumors of Yuzuki''s treatment emerge.Tasked with painting a monumental screen depicting the torments of hell, Yoshihide''s dedication takes a dark turn as he pushes the boundaries of morality in his quest for authenticity. As his obsession with capturing human suffering intensifies, the line between creation and cruelty blurs, leading to devastating consequences.Akutagawa''s story is a masterful exploration of the intersection between art and madness, power and exploitation. Revered as one of Japan''s greatest writers, Akutagawa''s work continues to influence modern storytelling, with Hell Screen standing out as a haunting meditation on the sacrifices demanded by art.**Recommended for readers ages 16+ due to mature themes and graphic content.**

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Akutagawa was one of the towering figures of modern Japanese literature, and is considered the father of the Japanese short story. This paradigmatic selection, which includes the stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, showcases the terrible beauty, cynicism, sublime pain and absurd humour of his writing.

'What is the life of a human being - a drop of dew, a flash of lightning? This is so sad, so sad.' Autobiographical stories from one of Japan's masters of modernist story-telling. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

"In a Grove" is an early modernist short story consisting of seven varying accounts of the murder of a samurai, Kanazawa no Takehiro, whose corpse has been found in a bamboo forest near Kyoto. Each section simultaneously clarifies and obfuscates what the reader knows about the murder, eventually creating a complex and contradictory vision of events that brings into question humanity's ability or willingness to perceive and transmit objective truth. It is the basis for Kurosawa's "Rashoumon."(from Wikipedia)---Note: The original Japanese text version is also available on Feedbooks at http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4204

"Rashomon" (Japanese: ???) is a short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke based on tales from the Konjaku Monogatarishu. A man considering whether or not to become a thief meets a woman stealing hair from corpses. Their conversation explores the morality of theft.The story was first published in 1915 in Teikoku Bungaku. Despite its name, it provided no direct plot material for the Akira Kurosawa movie Rashomon, which was based on Akutagawa's 1921 short story, In a Grove.(source: Wikipedia)Note: The original Japanese version of Rashoumon is available on Feedbooks at http://feedbooks.com/book/3923