Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories

These purple sparks...he would trade his life for the chance to hold them in his hands

Akutagawa (1892-1927) was one of Japan's foremost stylists - a modernist master whose stories are marked by original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. Rashōmon and In a Bamboo Grove inspired Kurosawa's magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is inverted, while tales such as the Nose and Loyalty paint a richly imaginative picture of medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. Later works such as Death Register, The Life of a Stupid Man and Spinning Gears draw on Akutagawa's own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.

Including both famous and little-known works, some translated into English for the first time, this volume reveals Akutagawa in a new light. In his illuminating introduction, Haruki Murakami explores Akutagawa's place in Japanese culture and influence on his own writing, while Jay Rubin's translation catches the spirit of the originals.

Spine-tingling brilliance...intuitive, natural - and beautiful - Haruki Murakami