Regular marked price: $15.00Discount Price: $10.20
Cost Savings: $4.80 (32%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 895.6342
EAN num: 9780143039846
ISBN number: 0143039849
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: October 31, 2006
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 43211
Studio: Penguin Classics
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master’s stories, from the source for the movie Rashomon to his later, more autobiographical writings.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
This is a review of Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories, translated by Jay Rubin and published in 2006. Not Rashomon and Other Stories, the name of two other shorter books by other translators that were published years ago. Why Amazon groups together the three books despite their different contents, I don't know; no stars for them.
The author, Akutagawa (1892-1927), is even yesterday considered one of Japan's most accomplished short-story writers. As some reviewers say, he's not for everyone. But readers attracted to the dark, pessimistic and atmospheric, or to the introspective and psychological subtleties conveyed with style in his best stories, might find some of his works worthwhile.
He published about 150 stories between 1914 and his death; a scholar of his work has written somewhere that about half of them are still readable. There's a big gap between the best and the rest. Before this collection, some 60 of the stories had been translated into English since the 1930s. Here, eight more appear in English for the very first time. The translator claimed nine, but a translation by Lawrence Rogers of "The Death Register" appeared earlier, in 2002.
Akutagawa's short-story career can be divided roughly into three periods. In the early works, from 1914 to 1922, at his best he drew inspiration from Japanese folktales and history and a range of non-Japanese sources, focusing on the characters' psychology to make them strikingly modern. Of the early works, the best known in English are "The Nose" (1916), "Kesa and Morito" (1918), "H-ll Screen" (1918) and "In a Grove" (1921), besides the vignette "Rashomon" (1915).
In the middle period, from 1922 or so to 1925, he sought more frequently and somewhat less successfully to make the settings of his writing more contemporary, while beginning to draw more deeply from his own life. Many of the works from the late period, from 1926 or so to his death, were heavily autobiographical, with his unease and despondency strongly apparent. Among the best-known works from the late period are "The Life of a Fool," "Spinning Gears" and "Kappa," all from 1927.
This anthology devoted about two-thirds of its pages to the early period, with the remainder split between middle and late. The translator sought a balance between retranslations of the author's well-known pieces from throughout his career -- most of the stories already mentioned, plus the beautifully compressed moral tale "The Spider's Thread" -- and first-time translations of lesser-known ones from the early and middle periods. The first-time translations, it was claimed, showed a funnier, more shocking and more imaginative side than had appeared previously in English.
Of the first-time translations, most enjoyed were those from the middle period: "Daidoji Shinsuke: The Early Years" (1924), the author's recollections of growing up in Tokyo in which his early psychology came strikingly alive, and "The Baby's Sickness" (1923) and "The Writer's Craft" (1924), in which he depicted with concern or irony the details of his family and working life. It seems that translations of autobiographical stories from this period haven't been published widely before, if at all. So they appear to be one of this anthology's main contributions.
Stories from the author's early period that were translated for the very first time covered subjects such as harassed Christian villagers in the provinces in earlier times and an insane feudal retainer in Edo. Though maybe not on the level of his very best writing from this period, they too helped provide a more complete picture of his work. In particular, his story about a Christian who renounced her religion in an endeavor to save her daughter, who then died, showed again his great ability to depict the macabre in ways that can't be forgotten.
Of the retranslations, maybe what's most worthwhile is that the versions provided here of the late works "The Life of a Fool" and "Spinning Gears" are better than the previous ones, more nuanced and more polished.
The main short stories I missed in this anthology were "Kesa and Morito," a brilliantly reimagined event from Japanese medieval times told in the very first person, from the clashing perspectives of a man and a woman. And "Tangerines" (1919), a memorable vignette of observation and feeling during a train ride taken by the narrator. These were missed because for me this author, except in his moral tales, is often at his best in the early stories when speaking through other characters in the very first person. Or in the works before his late period when he's describing events drawn from his own life but is in full control. Otherwise, too often the earlier stories feel a bit detached or in the late pieces his nervous sensibility becomes too jarring.
The anthology seems to have been a labor of love by the translator, who reevaluated the author's ... Read More
Rated by buyers 
-
I saw Kurosawa's Rashomon and thought that Akutagawa's stories used to build the movie fable could give me some additional amazement extending the one I've gotten from the movie. After reading this book from the front to the back cover and under a single breath - I hardly remember what were my initial expectations and motives urging me to buy and read this book.
Rated by buyers -
Ryunosuke Akutagawa, as the introduction to this work will tell you, is one of the most well known and admired figures in Japanese literature. He was a sensitive and cynical man who wrote more than one hundred short before his early death in 1927. Like many people in the West, I think I was drawn to Akutagawa's work after viewing Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" and wanted to read the story (or stories, rather) upon which it was based. Just as Kurosawa was a master of the moving image, Akutagawa was a master of the written language and a keen observer of the human condition.
For those not familiar with Akutagawa's work, be warned: his dark, ironic and frequently pessimistic world-view is not for everyone. In his stories love, honor and decency are often frequently and unexpectedly replaced by jealousy, hatred and violence. This collection of stories can easily be read in one or two sittings, but it's unsettling effects will likely stay with you for long you put it down.
Rated by buyers -
With 17 other stories, and alot of extras. The preface is well written, in how the translation has changed some over the years, and explaining the era, pronounceation of certain words, etc. I really don't need to go into this book as enough good reviews have said alot. The book stands the test of time as brilliant.
Rated by buyers -
I was expecting a lot when I very first opened Rashomon and 17 other stories, and I was not let down. Ryunosuke Akutagawa has an amazing style, and also led an interesting and difficult life. I recommend that anyone considering this product get it, whether it be from a used book store or a new copy. You won't be let down.
Find other books like this one:
