Japan's modernist master explores family, art and the fear of madness in exquisite autobiographical pieces and a short story.
'Oh the cruelty of time, that destroys all things!' Beguiling, strange and hair-raising tales from early 20th century Japan: Nagai's Behind the Prison, Uno's Closet LLB and Akutagawa's deeply macabre General Kim.
‘Rashömon’ and ‘In a Bamboo Grove’ inspired Kurosawa’s magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as ‘The Nose’, ‘O-Gin’ and ‘Loyalty’ paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants.
Written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the uncontested master of the short story in modern Japanese literature, the stories in this anthology are perfect examples of the the decadent aesthetic, with the gorgeous and the grotesque, the splendid and the sordid interwining in highly polished prose. Among
