Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
Rynosuke Akutagawa
This is a sadly unknown collection of stories, wonderfully eclectic and incredibly insightful. Though inextricably married to their time and place (interwar Japan), Akutagawa’s stories provide vivid, beautiful settings and explore deep human truths that exist far beyond Japan. The sheer variety present in this collection is a testament to his talent, sadly abridged by his suicide. Though the stories vary in quality, each is intriguing and raises interesting questions about the human condition and about the ways in which we justify the darker sides of human nature, themes that Akutagawa unapologetically explores. It is no surprise that an author whose work includes the story "Hell Screen" is concerned with depravity and a strange fascination with death. The organization of this particular volume, which is split into four distinct thematic sections, highlights Akutagawa’s shifting perspective and the shadows that haunted him as he contemplated his own approaching end.
The first section of the book is easily its weakest. Stories such as "The Nose" and "Dragon: The Old Potter’s Tale" are merely revamped fairy tales and have a certain didactic air. The latter is almost an exercise in stereotype and is quickly forgotten, though "The Spider Thread" easily belongs to this category of glorified morality plays without becoming overbearing or stereotypical. The other stories in this section, "Rashomon," "In a Bamboo Grove," and "Hell Screen," defy this classification and are interesting despite what they may owe to contemporary Japanese folk culture. The first is subtle and easily sets the tone for the remainder of the collection, dark but startlingly accurate, a vision of humanity that, despite its gruesome subject matter, refuses to be separated far from a happier life. "In a Bamboo Grove" is an exercise in perspective that reads as a factual account of various testimonies; its views on subjectivity must be derived by the reader. The story, if we call it such, is fully engaging and explores fundamental truths without being for a second didactic: it demands response, but only implicitly. "Hell Screen" is the other standout in this opening movement, and it foreshadows some of the pitch black content awaiting in further pages. A remarkable character study, the story becomes a meditation on art while retaining a distance that allows the reader to examine its contents at will.
Other stories in this collection are equally disturbing despite their variation, and almost every one is a knockout. "Horse Legs" retains Akutagawa’s fondness for the fable while adding an interesting twist, a fantasy for sure but with a degree of realism in its narrator that makes it compelling despite its clear disregard for reality. Akutagawa utilizes interesting and engaged first-person narration throughout to create a unique blend of fantasy and reality that, despite definite fantastic elements, seems utterly realistic. His gift for entering the minds of his narrators and portraying the world as they see it so vividly renders their Japan that no story seems out of place. Even the overbearing narrative missteps in some of the early fables and later autobiographical compositions are forgivable when factored into the validity of the stories’ contexts.
What is most striking about this collection is that, despite its complete other-ness from modern America and its easy substitution of imagination for reality, Akutagawa’s stories feel so powerfully real and resonate so clearly today. This particular collection of his work is continually engaging and traces an interesting arc by presenting its stories in roughly chronological order, with thematic separation. The notes provided help with extra contextual points that aid a modern reader’s understanding, but are not so overbearing as to promote a specific reading of a particular story. The collection is remarkably round and consistent despite a few early missteps, and its latter self-consciousness is easily forgivable in the context of the author’s depression and downward spiral. Akutagawa unapologetically reveals the dark recesses of the human soul in new and surprising ways throughout his stories, and his talent and insight certainly warrant a revival of his writings in the English-speaking world.
Grade: A
Rynosuke Akutagawa
This is a sadly unknown collection of stories, wonderfully eclectic and incredibly insightful. Though inextricably married to their time and place (interwar Japan), Akutagawa’s stories provide vivid, beautiful settings and explore deep human truths that exist far beyond Japan. The sheer variety present in this collection is a testament to his talent, sadly abridged by his suicide. Though the stories vary in quality, each is intriguing and raises interesting questions about the human condition and about the ways in which we justify the darker sides of human nature, themes that Akutagawa unapologetically explores. It is no surprise that an author whose work includes the story "Hell Screen" is concerned with depravity and a strange fascination with death. The organization of this particular volume, which is split into four distinct thematic sections, highlights Akutagawa’s shifting perspective and the shadows that haunted him as he contemplated his own approaching end.
The first section of the book is easily its weakest. Stories such as "The Nose" and "Dragon: The Old Potter’s Tale" are merely revamped fairy tales and have a certain didactic air. The latter is almost an exercise in stereotype and is quickly forgotten, though "The Spider Thread" easily belongs to this category of glorified morality plays without becoming overbearing or stereotypical. The other stories in this section, "Rashomon," "In a Bamboo Grove," and "Hell Screen," defy this classification and are interesting despite what they may owe to contemporary Japanese folk culture. The first is subtle and easily sets the tone for the remainder of the collection, dark but startlingly accurate, a vision of humanity that, despite its gruesome subject matter, refuses to be separated far from a happier life. "In a Bamboo Grove" is an exercise in perspective that reads as a factual account of various testimonies; its views on subjectivity must be derived by the reader. The story, if we call it such, is fully engaging and explores fundamental truths without being for a second didactic: it demands response, but only implicitly. "Hell Screen" is the other standout in this opening movement, and it foreshadows some of the pitch black content awaiting in further pages. A remarkable character study, the story becomes a meditation on art while retaining a distance that allows the reader to examine its contents at will.
Other stories in this collection are equally disturbing despite their variation, and almost every one is a knockout. "Horse Legs" retains Akutagawa’s fondness for the fable while adding an interesting twist, a fantasy for sure but with a degree of realism in its narrator that makes it compelling despite its clear disregard for reality. Akutagawa utilizes interesting and engaged first-person narration throughout to create a unique blend of fantasy and reality that, despite definite fantastic elements, seems utterly realistic. His gift for entering the minds of his narrators and portraying the world as they see it so vividly renders their Japan that no story seems out of place. Even the overbearing narrative missteps in some of the early fables and later autobiographical compositions are forgivable when factored into the validity of the stories’ contexts.
What is most striking about this collection is that, despite its complete other-ness from modern America and its easy substitution of imagination for reality, Akutagawa’s stories feel so powerfully real and resonate so clearly today. This particular collection of his work is continually engaging and traces an interesting arc by presenting its stories in roughly chronological order, with thematic separation. The notes provided help with extra contextual points that aid a modern reader’s understanding, but are not so overbearing as to promote a specific reading of a particular story. The collection is remarkably round and consistent despite a few early missteps, and its latter self-consciousness is easily forgivable in the context of the author’s depression and downward spiral. Akutagawa unapologetically reveals the dark recesses of the human soul in new and surprising ways throughout his stories, and his talent and insight certainly warrant a revival of his writings in the English-speaking world.
Grade: A
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