Book Review: Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Ryunosuke Akutagawa is one of Japan’s most influential writers, regarded as the “father of the Japanese short story”. He’s most famous for the short stories, Rashomon, In a Bamboo Grove, and The Nose.

The book I borrowed contained a timeline of Akutagawa’s life leading up to his suicide in 1892, which helped me understand his life more. The book also has an introductory chapter by Haruki Murakami. I was really surprised to see that. As you may know, I like Murakami a lot.

Akutagawa has written a lot of short stories, and the book I borrowed contained both his famous and lesser-known works. I liked that because it provided me with a more holistic understanding of his writing.

I won’t talk about all the short stories but the ones that left a deep impression on me, good or bad.

In a Bamboo Grove

This is by far my favourite short story in the book. The story is told from various characters’ points of view as they recount a murder. Even the ghost of the deceased shares his point of view. What’s fascinating is that the characters’ accounts contradict, so you’re left debating who the killer was.

Rashomon

Rashomon is about a man who is contemplating whether to become a robber, and he encounters a woman in the middle of stealing from a corpse. This story shows irony and hypocrisy really well. One thing I love about Akutagawa’s stories is that there’s a lot to reflect upon and think about once you’re done reading the story.

The Nose

I didn’t resonate with The Nose too much. I thought that Akutagawa’s writing in this story was too negative.

Hell Screen

This story is about a painter who is tasked with the challenge of painting hell, but he cannot paint what he has not seen. This is my second favourite story in the book. It reminds me a bit of Edogawa Rampo’s horror stories (See my review here). This story has macabre elements and is quite dark. I like it very much.

The style of Akutagawa’s stories changed a lot in his writing career. He has some stories on Christianity, some thought-provoking stories, some autobiographical stories, and some more horrifying stories such as this one. I like his macabre stories the most.

The Head That Fell Off

This story made me think a lot. When a person faces a near-death situation, will they change their ways, or will they fall back to their old bad habits? It’s easy to think about how badly most people fail with new years resolutions, but those aren’t in life or death situations.

Horse Legs

I did not like this story. However, it’s worth mentioning because of how uncanny it is. I can appreciate this aspect, but again, I did not like this story because it was too weird and creepy. I felt uncomfortable reading it.

Spinning Gears

I felt that I knew Akutagawa personally because of this autobiographical story. If you check the timeline of his life, the events are just about identical. This was one of the last stories he wrote before he died by suicide.

Closing thoughts

Read this book! It was such a journey, especially with how the book is divided into three parts. I can see why Ryunosuke Akutagawa is a renowned writer, and I’ll be thinking about his works for a long time.

Foolish or Not? The Most Foolish Traveler in The World

There are parallels between the story told by Momiji in Fruits Basket, The Most Foolish Traveler in The World, and Oscar Wilde’s short story, The Happy Prince. 

The Most Foolish Traveler in The World: About a traveler who is tricked by a goblin and gives up his legs, his arm, more and more, and finally his eyes. The only thing left is the traveler’s head. The goblin gives the traveler a “present,” a piece of paper with the word “FOOL” on it. Because the traveler cannot see, he is so happy to receive a present for the first time. 

The Happy Prince: About a statue of the late Happy Prince who learns that there are many poor people suffering. He asks a swallow to give the townspeople the ruby from his tilt, the sapphire from his eyes, and the gold leaf from his body. The swallow, who delayed his flight in order to deliver these gems, dies from the cold weather. The townspeople then think that the statue is shabby and melt it. The swallow is dead and the Happy Prince is heartbroken, but they are taken to heaven for their good deeds in the end. 

It’s interesting how one story has the word “foolish” in the title while the other has the word “happy.” You could argue that both stories have a happy ending. The traveler is happy to receive a present for the first time, and the swallow and Happy Prince go to paradise.

So, was the traveler foolish? Was the Happy Prince foolish? Was the swallow foolish? 

My thoughts: I think that the traveler was foolish. How long will his happiness last? What will happen after the story ends? He cannot walk, cannot see, and does not have other people to help him. The goblin won’t help him, that’s for sure. It’s good to receive presents from people, but at what cost? If one action of “kindness” from the goblin costed you everything, that kindness was conditional. It’s fake. 

I think the Happy Prince statue was foolish. Even though the story has a happy ending, he begged the swallow to deliver the gems even though winter was approaching. He is responsible for the swallow’s death. The Happy Prince “died” with a broken heart. The same townspeople that he helped are the ones who melted him in the furnace. They were going to replace him with a statue of the mayor. Sure, the townspeople were unaware of the Happy Prince’s good deeds but does that really matter? If you’re only going to keep the “shabby” statue because he helped you first, I question what’s going on. 

Although… I like these stories. While I think that the traveler and the Happy Prince were foolish, they are rare to come by. I would like to meet someone like the traveler some day. 

What do you think? 

Book Review: Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami

Men Without Women is a collection of seven short stories written by the famous writer, Haruki Murakami. Murakami’s original works are in Japanese, and his books have been translated into 50 languages. I read the English translation.

Can we take a moment to appreciate the front and back covers? The back cover starts with the word, 女 ‘woman’ and it transforms into a puzzle piece. The front cover depicts a man with a puzzle piece missing. He is a Men Without Women.

Haruki Murakami is my favourite contemporary writer. He often writes about the themes: isolation, loneliness and loss. These are stories of men who have lost important women in their lives, sometimes to other men, sometimes to death or due to complicated reasons. The impact of these women lost and gone forever cut deeply, and sometimes life will never be the same again.

I was pleasantly surprised at how different each story is. I really enjoyed reading six of the seven short stories, which is a really high number. My favourite story from this collection is “Kino.”

Murakami often writes about sex, so don’t be surprised about that if you read his works. I started reading his novels when I was in high school. Another common feature in his works is that the endings are often open to interpretation. You may be disappointed at the endings of some of these stories, or really confused. However, he gets you to think critically about the stories which draws upon your imagination and creativity. As a reader, you are an active agent.

This was a really quick read, which shows how invested I was in these stories. I love short stories because they are little gems. I recommend Murakami’s books because his writing is engaging and because he really brings his characters to life. I believe that he has a lot of knowledge on human emotions. Every time I read his books, I gain new perspectives.

Book Review: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Edogawa Rampo is known as the Father of Japanese mystery writing. If you are into mystery or horror, read this book! There are nine short stories in this book, and I’ll be talking about two stories that left lasting impressions on me.

1. The Human Chair

I was sucked in the story before I realized it. The writing is superlative! It’s about a person who stays inside a chair and his experiences of people sitting on him. It was weird but it was right up my alley. I was so fascinated, I could not stop reading.

Then I read Junji Ito’s retelling of the story! Junji Ito is a popular mangaka who specializes in horror manga. Junji retells The Human Chair with an alternate ending and I loved it. I recommend reading Rampo’s short story then reading Junji’s manga.

2. The Red Chamber

Have you ever thought about the perfect crime, and if such a thing is possible? This short story talks about the perfect crime, and it does have logic to it. Several examples are provided in this story. One line I loved from the story was, “Not any ordinary type of murder, I told myself, but murder which would baffle even Sherlock himself!”

---

It was interesting to see that Sherlock reference but it makes sense because Rampo was influenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was also interesting to see Edgar Allan Poe’s influence on Rampo’s writing, because Poe was a significant figure to Rampo’s work.

This shouldn’t be surprising, but many of these stories are about murder and a lot of the times they are told from the murderer’s perspective. I get that it’s not for everybody!