"Akutagawa displays an insightful and keenly creative intelligence in prose so lucid its sophistication is hardly visible." —The Guardian Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), "the Father of the Japanese short story," wrote 150 stories during his brief career and is widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest storyteller. This new anthology, published exactly a century after his death, includes fresh translations of well-known classics as well as never-before-translated works: A Fool's Words: Aphorisms and reflections on life and literature, full of imagination and insight; this is Akutagawa at his most quotable, and the first complete English translation of this essay The Parrot: During the cataclysmic Great Kanto Earthquake, a man escapes a fire with his granddaughter and a caged parrot; separated, he searches desperately for her as his own situation worsens—the first-ever English translation of this story The Piano: Another first-time English translation set in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake: the narrator discovers a piano amidst the ruins and seems to hear a single note; only later does he realize the sound is caused by something else The Faith of Wei Sheng: A retelling of an ancient Chinese tale of in which a man waits under a bridge for his beloved until the rising waters drown him; the narrator finds in the man's faith an image of his own life The Swamp: At an art exhibition, the narrator is captivated by a neglected painting of a swamp; and when another visitor mocks it as madness, he insists that it is nonetheless a masterpiece The Mirage: Two brief seaside occurrences—one by day, one by night—share an uncanny stillness that hovers at the edge of ordinary life Plus seven other fascinating essays and tales This is an absolute "must-have" for every serious fan of Japanese literature!
