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I liked 'Death Register' and 'The Life of a Stupid Man' for the way that that makes you think twice about the morbid and mundane, and I like the structure of 'In a Bamboo Grove' (told as a series of witness statements, where noone tells the story of the same event the same way) but the story itself - its chosen subject - is unpleasant at best and the betrays ⬇️

I love these little penguin books as they give you a taster of the full work. I have the book that this was extracted from on my TBR now. 😅
A word of caution: the last two parts of this volume deal with the writer's depression and thoughts of suicide.

My country has been releasing its lockdown. Dropped by the post office this morning and while on my way to some other errand, decided to take a break and enjoy some of the food that I have been missing...
The simple joys in life....

This Penguin Black contains the title piece, "Death Register" & "In a Bamboo Grove." The latter work is the basis for one of Kurosawa's greatest films (renamed as Rashomon) & is widely considered a modern classic for good reason. Akutagawa's sensibility is a bit of an outlier in early 20th century Japan and it was refreshing to revisit his work.

⭐⭐⭐/5

Short stories taken from Rashōmon. Modernist writer Akutagawa explores how we perceive truth in the first story, where there are many different versions of a murder that simultaneously clarify and confuse the reader. Which one, if any, is the real story? The other two pieces are autobiographical and articulate Akutagawa's overwhelming sense of depression and feelings of madness.

I have a thing for samurai stories and Japanese culture. Japanese Literature have this deepness and solitude that draws me in. It's like I'm swimming in abyss. It's really hard to explain.
#shortstories #penguinclassics