Description: From a nobleman's court, to the garden of paradise, to a lantern festival in Tokyo, these 7 short stories offer dazzling glimpses into moments of madness, murder and obsession. A talented yet spiteful painter is given over to depravity in pursuit of artistic brilliance. In the depth of hell, a robber spies a single spider's thread being lowered towards him. When a body is found in an isolated bamboo grove, a kaleidoscopic account of violence and desire begins to unfold. These are short stories from an unparalleled master of the form. Sublimely crafted and stylishly original, Akutagawa's writing is shot through with a fantastical sensibility. This collection, in a vivid translation by Bryan Karetnyk, brings together the most essential works from this iconic Japanese writer.
Review Quotes: "One never tires of reading and re-reading his work. Akutagawa was a born short-story writer." - Haruki Murakami
"The quintessential writer of his era." - David Pearce "Extravagance and horror and in his work but never in his style, which is always crystal-clear." - Jorge Luis Borges "He was both traditional and experimental and always compelling and fearless... There is no writer quite like him." - Howard Norman