"Clear-eyed glimpses of human behavior in the extremities of poverty,
stupidity, greed, vanity... Story-telling of an unconventional sort,
with most of the substance beneath the shining, enameled surface."
--The New York Times Book Review
Widely acknowledged as "the father of the Japanese short story,"
Ryunosuke Akutagawa remains one of the most influential Japanese writers
of all time. Rashomon and Other Stories, a collection of his most
celebrated work, resonates as strongly today as when it first published
a century ago.
This volume includes:
- In a Grove: An iconic, contradictory tale of the murder of a samurai
in a forest near Kyoto told through three varying accounts
- Rashomon: A masterless samurai contemplates following a life of
crime as he encounters an old woman at the old Rashomon gate outside
Kyoto
- Yam Gruel: A low-ranking court official laments his position all the
while yearning for his favorite, yet humble, dish
- The Martyr: Set in Japan's Christian missionary era, a young boy is
excommunicated for fathering an illegitimate child, but not all is as
it seems
- Kesa and Morito: An adulterous couple plots to kill the woman's
husband as the situation threatens to spin out of control
- The Dragon: A priest concocts a prank involving a dragon, but the
tall tale begins to take on a life of its own
With a new foreward by noted Akutagawa scholar Seiji Lippit, this
updated version of a classic collection is a an excellent, readable
introduction to Japanese literature.
