This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master's stories, from the source for the movie Rashōmon to his later, more autobiographical writings.Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan’s foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly 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 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. And in later works such as ‘Death Register’, ‘The Life of a Stupid Man’ and ‘Spinning Gears’, Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.A WORLD IN DECAY- Rashōmon (Sep 1915)- In a Bamboo Grove (Dec 1921)- The Nose (Jan 1916)- Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale (May 1919)- The Spider Thread (Apr 1918)- Hell Screen (1918)UNDER THE SWORD- Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum (Dec 7th 1916)- O-Gin (Aug 1922) - Loyalty (Feb 1917)MODERN TRAGICOMEDY- The Story of a Head That Fell Off (Dec 1917)- Green Onions (Dec 1919)- Horse Legs (Jan 1925)AKUTAGAWA'S OWN STORY- Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years (Dec 9th 1924)- The Writer's Craft (Mar 1924)- The Baby's Sickness (Jul 1923)- Death Register (Sep 1926)- The Life of a Stupid Man (Jun 1927 posthumous)- Spinning Gears (Jun 1927 posthumous)Cover illustration by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
