Included in this timeless collection are Akutagawa's "In a Grove," a psychologically sophisticated tale about murder, rape, and suicide; "The Martyr," the story of silent suffering in Christian Nagasaki; and "Kesa and Morito," the story of man driven to kill someone he doesn't hate by a lover whom he doesn't love; and "Rashomon," the infamous story of a thief scared into honesty by a terrifying encounter with a ghoul.
"What [Akutagawa] did was question the values of his society, dramatize the complexities of human psychology, and study, with a Zen taste for paradox, the balance of illusion and reality."
Included in this timeless collection are Akutagawa's "In a Grove," a psychologically sophisticated tale about murder, rape, and suicide; "The Martyr," the story of silent suffering in Christian Nagasaki; and "Kesa and Morito," the story of man driven to kill someone he doesn't hate by a lover whom he doesn't love; and "Rashomon," the infamous story of a thief scared into honesty by a terrifying encounter with a ghoul.
"What [Akutagawa] did was question the values of his society, dramatize the complexities of human psychology, and study, with a Zen taste for paradox, the balance of illusion and reality."