In Dreams: The Very Short Stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Ryan Choi (Translator)

In Dreams brings together fifty-one works for the first time in English by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the “father of the Japanese short story” and one of the most important writers of the twentieth century.

Deftly translated by Ryan Choi, these stories and vignettes (plus two short plays) all have radical brevity in common, demonstrating that Akutagawa was an early and prescient master of what we now call “flash” fiction and non-fiction. With a striking economy of means, the author gives us vivid, eccentric, feeling characters, young and elderly, learned and unpolished, urban and rural. Akutagawa’s observations and notes – on dreams, on being impersonated, on mountain towns, winter nights, university life and, poignantly, the Great Kantō Earthquake – are as rich and evocative as his stories, with which they share a mesmerising quality.

First published in Japan between 1914 and 1927 (some posthumously), these works have been overlooked in favour of Akutagawa’s longer tales, which have formed the basis of his reputation in the West. In translating them, Choi rounds out our understanding of this master stylist.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Classics, Japan

176 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2023

About the author

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (芥川 龍之介) was one of the first prewar Japanese writers to achieve a wide foreign readership, partly because of his technical virtuosity, partly because his work seemed to represent imaginative fiction as opposed to the mundane accounts of the I-novelists of the time, partly because of his brilliant joining of traditional material to a modern sensibility, and partly because of film director Kurosawa Akira's masterful adaptation of two of his short stories for the screen.

Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district Tokyo as the eldest son of a dairy operator named Shinbara Toshizō and his wife Fuku. He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Dragon Offshoot") because he was born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon (8 a.m.). Seven months after Akutagawa's birth, his mother went insane and he was adopted by her older brother, taking the Akutagawa family name. Despite the shadow this experience cast over Akutagawa's life, he benefited from the traditional literary atmosphere of his uncle's home, located in what had been the "downtown" section of Edo.

At school Akutagawa was an outstanding student, excelling in the Chinese classics. He entered the First High School in 1910, striking up relationships with such classmates as Kikuchi Kan, Kume Masao, Yamamoto Yūzō, and Tsuchiya Bunmei. Immersing himself in Western literature, he increasingly came to look for meaning in art rather than in life. In 1913, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, majoring in English literature. The next year, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the journal Shinshichō (New Currents of Thought), publishing translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with original works of their own. Akutagawa published the story Rashōmon in the magazine Teikoku bungaku (Imperial Literature) in 1915. The story, which went largely unnoticed, grew out of the egoism Akutagawa confronted after experiencing disappointment in love. The same year, Akutagawa started going to the meetings held every Thursday at the house of Natsume Sōseki, and thereafter considered himself Sōseki's disciple.

The lapsed Shinshichō was revived yet again in 1916, and Sōseki lavished praise on Akutagawa's story Hana (The Nose) when it appeared in the first issue of that magazine. After graduating from Tokyo University, Akutagawa earned a reputation as a highly skilled stylist whose stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents from a distinctly modern standpoint. His overriding themes became the ugliness of human egoism and the value of art, themes that received expression in a number of brilliant, tightly organized short stories conventionally categorized as Edo-mono (stories set in the Edo period), ōchō-mono (stories set in the Heian period), Kirishitan-mono (stories dealing with premodern Christians in Japan), and kaika-mono (stories of the early Meiji period). The Edo-mono include Gesaku zanmai (A Life Devoted to Gesaku, 1917) and Kareno-shō (Gleanings from a Withered Field, 1918); the ōchō-mono are perhaps best represented by Jigoku hen (Hell Screen, 1918); the Kirishitan-mono include Hokōnin no shi (The Death of a Christian, 1918), and kaika-mono include Butōkai(The Ball, 1920).

Akutagawa married Tsukamoto Fumiko in 1918 and the following year left his post as English instructor at the naval academy in Yokosuka, becoming an employee of the Mainichi Shinbun. This period was a productive one, as has already been noted, and the success of stories like Mikan (Mandarin Oranges, 1919) and Aki (Autumn, 1920) prompted him to turn his attention increasingly to modern materials. This, along with the introspection occasioned by growing health and nervous problems, resulted in a series of autobiographically-based stories known as Yasukichi-mono, after the name of the main character. Works such as Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei(The Early Life of

Reviews

[Bella Azam · Rating 5 out of 5]

i will need time to review this since there are a lot of short stories in here, like very short ones, some personal, some fictional, some fantastical, there are sort of poem or haiku(?), the musings, notes which will need a proper review once again so as I can talk more about these little bits in details


Akutagawa Ryunosuke's literary musings & vignettes of his daily life talking about the people he met, domestic & some classical retellings were collected in this book. As a fan, this gave more context to his writings but I will recommend others to read his other works first. Once you have a taste of Akutagawa's writing then you will appreciate this one so much more. Some of the stories are very short, more like personal thoughts or diary entries but his humors & brilliance of craft shone through in some of the stories 🌟

When it comes to Akutagawa, his brilliance in evoking a deep nostalgic sense to his stories are what makes me a big fan of his works but also the emotional depth to some of his most personal thoughts & suffering are what makes me stay to his work the most. He was one and truly a great author lost to his illness, wrenched apart from the thin thread of life leaving behind a magnificent 150 plus short stories. Even with the sickness & the ailing depression, his last years of life created some of his best stories ever in Kappa and Life of a stupid man that I always goes back to reread again and again. In Dreams captured more of the candid moments, more of diary entries or author's note rather than a complete story, featured various anecdotes of his views on places, the dark humor of describing his friends as foods, domestic life with his wife, the plights & his concern of his decaying mental health, the conversations he had with his literary circles, some fantastical stories in bound of retelling on Chinese and Japanese folklore, the short length of these stories were collected into this one book translated beautifully by Ryan Choi. Its amazing that the translator able to capture Akutagawa's flairs of poignant writing with witty humor.

Each short accounts of his personal life collected in this book, both published in his time of living & posthumously revealed the mind of a man troubled with life, happiness & suffering from a suffocating depression in which he was scared of dying yet living felt like a terror. Yet, in his perseverance despite the frantic mind of a man with fear of life, Akutagawa pouring his heart out into these pages are what exactly kept me to live in my own fearfulness of life, to that I found comfort in knowing that I'm less alone

[Max Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars (rounded down)

This is Akutagawa at his most recognisable. Following my adoration and respect for the masterfully compiled Hell Screen, I became very interested in Akutagawa's life, inherently tied to his work given his semi-autobiographical style of writing. This style is exemplified in "In Dreams", as the majority of the very short stories - flash fiction, as the blurb addresses them - feel like snappy and reflective diary entries.

Each story's short length poses some interesting challenges, as they naturally struggle to form a fully formed narrative or message. I think Akutagawa understood this when writing the stories in "In Dreams", as they instead shoot for the evocation of a more visceral, fleeting experience. Most of the stories here can be sorted into one of two broad categories, in my opinion: people and places. The stories about people, which I didn't particularly care for, often centred a conversation or interaction between a couple of characters. I felt like these stories suffered from their short length and weren't saved by writing style, unlike the stories in the "places" category. These stories felt, instead, like brief vignettes of various locations or states of being, and easily provided some of my favourite stories from the collection. They invoke a lovely mix of nostalgia and beauty, and Akutagawa's simple yet effective style works well here. Some of my Favourite stories in the collection overall fell into this category, including: Yokosuka Scenes, In the City (or Tokyo, 1916), Spring Nights, Twenty Remarks on China and Selected Notes from Kugenuma.

Outside of these stories, however, many of the pieces in this collection were somewhat forgettable, partially due to their short length but also partially due to the general lack of cohesion in the collection. Given the title, I expected many of these stories to follow hypnagogic or fantastical subject matter, but in actuality many of the stories were very grounded and domestic. Almost more prominent of a theme in this collection is looking at the impact of the West on East Asian culture, with European culture featuring surprisingly often in the stories. It's interesting, but it doesn't entirely save the collection.

That's a general theme here with In Dreams. It has some very good elements, and it is undeniably Akutagawa in many ways. However, I don't think it holds much value outside the stories which I mentioned above, and a more in-depth look into Akutagawa's psyche, which probably wouldn't interest anyone not already acquainted with his work. Hell Screen is a more grand and cinematic depiction of his life and mental state, while In Dreams explores it from day to day, which at points can be uninteresting or forgettable. Plus, the exceedingly short length of the stories means this is not the book to read before bed as utmost concentration is required or otherwise a story will fly by you without you taking in a single word. As such, I wouldn't recommend In Dreams to Akutagawa beginners - go to Hell Screen first if you're interested - but I personally quite enjoyed it.

[Natascha Eschweiler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great translation! I've been looking for Akutagawa's shorter works for ages, so this really hit the spot.

[Heidi ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

So nearly a five star… it feels like a companion piece to The Pillow Book - like modern zuihitsu. Very impressed by the translator, Ryan Choi - someone to look out for…

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often re-read Akutagawa's stories. Before this publication I had read all of his stories in English, even the ones translated online and obscure scholarly publications. I had read about 97 pieces total. This book brings the total number of pieces available in English closer to 150, which is around half of the author's total production. I wish this book had been published by Penguin to compliment their other Akutagawa volume, but a smaller publisher is better than no publisher I suppose. I interviewed the translator here:


https://thecollidescope.com/2021/06/1...

I truly hope Choi goes on to translate the remainder of Akutagawa's oeuvre. In regard to this slim volume, the translation is consistent and captures the voice I remember from the more well-known volumes of Akutagawa's works, but the stories are more incidental pieces of less formal construction. They read like the author's diary entries more than polished stories. I personally think this book rounds out my understanding of the author as an artist. Notebooks are often cauldrons for ideas, where writers toss in whatever they come up with to see what congeals. I do that in my notebooks and I enjoyed reading the synthesis of poetry, dream-logic, reminiscence, and psychological insight to be found here. Akutagawa is often very subtle and it might take more than one reading to get what he means. After completing this book, I turned to the front and read it a second time. I think I've read my other Akutagawa books at least 3 times each. Yet I keep returning to them. For me, they are the best of Japanese fiction. The psychology and observation of this author are equal to that of Balzac and Tolstoy in my eyes, but he did not seemingly possess the time, workhorse mentality, or mental stability of the giants of French and Russian literature. If he had been more disciplined or controlled in his habits and frame of mind, if he had not been plagued by illness and frustration, I imagine he would accomplished much more with his writing. As it is, we possess an intriguing and moving collection of tales, fables, and fragments of a flawed author who dissects his time and place with humor and pathos at every turn, offering a unique lens with which to encounter the world. Alongside Soseki and Tanizaki and Kawabata, Akutagawa seems the essential Japanese author. He is more relevant and consistent than Lady Murasaki and more timeless than Murakami. His greatest stories are as stirring and bizarre as the works of Gogol, and his minor pieces offer insight into his disturbed psyche by incremental stages. A breathless depression suffuses much of his work, a terror of the mere fact of having to live. Instead of bothering me, this penchant merely captivates me.

This collection ranges from dreamy accounts of short trips the author took, to outlines for bedtime stories and captures moments of struggle with the duty of writing. He describes what he is doing and writing and with every short fragment there is some underlying charm or unexpected description. There is no end to what you can uncover in this varied and poignant book, but a lot of it will whiz by you without leaving much of an impression unless you first have a deep understanding of the author's previous writings. Some of these posthumous pieces reflect back aspects of his great stories, and the meditations on hunting, the Great Earthquake, hot springs, memories and so forth only add layers to the figure I have come to appreciate over the years of my acquaintance with his works.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Akutagawa's style is spare but not strained. His writing reads like a letter from a distant friend, weaving turns of phrase and casual analysis with masterful strokes of color and description that echoes after its read.

[J B · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sketchbook type compilation of a master writer.

[Ilena Zimmer]

Reading Akutagawa always feels like wearing a warm blanket during a cold winter night.

[Catcher Salazar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t get it! Calming, sure, and interesting to hear someone’s daily perspective (among other topics). But not my cup of tea.

[Nur Dini]

The way I’d describe In Dreams: The Very Short Stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is as fragments— glimpses of inner monologues and scenes, like memories caught from a distance. Most writings don’t necessarily carry meanings, they’re simply there, as mundane as recalling a stranger from a hot-spring visit or hearing two friends trade banter in a back-street Jinbōchō café. There are a few pieces read like diary entries as they are personally recorded from his time traveling through China as a journalist, his response to a survey, or conversations with his friends.

The all too familiar Akutagawa’s trademark commentary occasionally slips through. He likens youth fading to soil shifting with the seasons, how perhaps beauty isn’t the same as hygiene, and also slides in jabs at corruption rooted in society. Biblical texts, folktales, and mythologies which are long part of his works make their appearance in the collection as well. His absurd, bone-dry humor of describing his friends as delicacies or how his ideal woman does not exist cuts through the reverie without warning, and they are wonderfully entertaining. His meticulous observations also shows through: the botanical details, changes in weather, the slow drift of shadow which made his prose beautifully poetic.

Through this collection of his writings, Akutagawa simply writes what he sees and feels. For me, these writings aren’t meant to be rated or thoroughly dissected, they’re meant to be felt. His works of Kappa and Rashōmon already prove he’s one of the most brilliant writers of his time and I’ll read anything of his that’s thrown my way. Though I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who is new to Akutagawa, it’s more rewarding once you are familiar with his better-known works.