"Extravagance and horror are in his work but never in his style, which is always crystal clear."-Jorge Luis Borges
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"In [Akutagawa's] spare, textured prose . . . he brings us clear-eyed glimpses of human behavior."-The New York Times Book Review
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In Mandarins, Akutagawa blends a sense of sad inevitability with subtle irony. Reflective and often humorous, these tales reveal an enormous amount about Japanese culture, but above all the inner struggles of the characters always strike the universal.
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Ryunosuke Akutagawawas born in Tokyo in 1892. After a period of severe depression, Akutagawa committed suicide in 1927, at age thirty-five. Eight years after his death he was commemorated through the establishment of the Akutagawa Prize for literature, the most prestigious literary prize in Japan.

"There's a lot more to Akutagawa (1892-1927) than his short story 'Rashomon,' made famous by the Kirosawa film, and not among these 13 tales, delicately balanced worlds in miniature. Newly translated, they evoke the lost splendor and conflicts of Rashomon's Meiji Era. 'The Garden' depicts a crumbling inn belonging to the once-great family Nakamura; presciently, the last surviving relative, Ren'ichi, has abandoned the land to attend art school in Tokyo. Titled after a line from Basho, 'O'er a Withered Moor' re-creates, in an quiet Osaka residence, the mournful last moments of a great man's life, surrounded by his grieving, anxious disciples. The exquisite 'Kesa and Morito' is made up of soliloquies by two lovers who contemplate murdering Kesa's husband in order to consummate their conflicted longing for each other. Modern tales include the vignette 'Mandarins,' the account of a ennui-laden train traveler who looks on in delighted astonishment as his young peasant co-passenger throws oranges to her brothers, waving as they pass. Akutagawa's stories are gorgeous and intimate." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Extravagance and horror are in his work but never in his style, which is always crystal clear."-Jorge Luis Borges "In (Akutagawa's) spare, textured prose . . . he brings us clear-eyed glimpses of human behavior."-The New York Times Book Review In Mandarins, Ryunosuke Akutagawa blends a sense of sad inevitability with -subtle irony. Reflective and often humorous, these tales reveal an enormous amount about Japanese culture, while the inner struggles of the characters always strike the universal.

Born in Tokyo in 1892. In 1915, he published Rashomon, which gained international recognition and became a classic film. After a period of severe depression, Akutagawa committed suicide in 1927, at age thirty-five. Eight years after Akutagawa's death he was commemorated through the establishment of the Akutagawa Prize for literature, the most prestigious literary prize in Japan.