Author: Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Translator: Jay Rubin
Publisher: Penguin
Hardback
Published August 2022
Akutagawa was one of the towering figures of modern Japanese literature, and is considered the father of the Japanese short story. This paradigmatic selection, which includes the stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, showcases the terrible beauty, cynicism, sublime pain and absurd humour of his writing.