Rashōmon and 17 Other Stories

Among the difficulties of getting much of a feel for the works of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke is that while there has been a steady flow of translations of his work into English for almost a century now, these have come piece-meal and jumbled together (just see the other volumes we have under review), with the best-known stories now available in numerous translations at the same time as much of his work remains untranslated. Add to that the absence of any accessible biography -- and the shadow cast by Kurosawa s film-adaptation Rashomon -- and the picture gets, at the very least, quite messy.

This Penguin Classics edition must now be considered the standard introductory text, the first volume that readers interested in the author should turn to. It only contains eighteen stories (a decent but not overly-generous selection), but does include many of the most significant (and most translated) tales: the two stories Kurosawa s film is based on, the brilliant Hell Screen , and the autobiographical summings-up The Life of a Stupid Man and Spinning Gears (the latter title more commonly translated as Cogwheels ). It also includes several previously untranslated stories. (The only work that s sorely missed is Kappa (see our review of Geoffrey Bownas translation).)

Rubin s translations are solid -- though not always as approachable as, for example, Charles De Wolf s in Mandarins (a collection that appeared shortly after Rubin s); see our book group discussion on Akutagawa s Mandarins for some discussion of the differences. But in all other respects the Penguin Classics edition is near-exemplary, especially as far as the wealth of supporting material goes. The endnotes are thorough and helpful (though Akutagawa is a writer of such many-layered allusion that there could be considerably more ...), but it s the introductory material that is particularly helpful.

Murakami Haruki s Introduction gives a good overview of the author, and if it is also a very personal view of Akutagawa at least Murakami is one Japanese author that many Western readers can adequately relate to (through familiarity with his own work), making it easier to position his reactions than would be the case with a lesser-known Japanese author.

A detailed Chronology, as well as Rubin s own Translator s Note, are also informative and helpful. With so much of Akutagawa s writing using autobiographical elements all this material is particularly welcome.

The selection shows Akutagawa s range -- and obvious talents -- and does cover much of his most significant work. Likely, though, it will also make the reader want more -- and, unfortunately, there s not that much more that is readily accessible.

Contos / Literatura Estrangeira