Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master's stories, from the source for the movie Rashomon to his later, more autobiographical writings. \nA stunning deluxe edition of one of Penguin Classics' most popular translations \nRyünosuke Akutagawa is one of Japan's foremost stylists--a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. Rashömonand 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. \n \nFor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.\n