A Fool's Life

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Anthony Barnett (Translator), Naoko Toraiwa (Translator)

Fiction. Asian Studies. Translated from the Japanese by Anthony Barnett and Toraiwa Naoko. Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927) is one of 20th Japan's great storytellers. He is best known in the West for the story "Rashomon", "Rasho Gate", which, with another of his short stories as primary source, "Within a Grove", was the inspiration behind Kurosawa's film Rashomon. Akutagawa read widely in world literature. He graduated from Tokyo University with a thesis on William Morris. His mentor was the great novelistNatsume Soseki, who had lived in London at the turn of the century. Akutagawa's writings include reworkings of motifs and tales of China's and Japan's past, modern fables, essays, and a few autobiographical fictions which, like A FOOL'S LIFE, follow his intense engagement and difficulty with the world. He ended his brief life the month after completing A FOOL'S LIFE. Anthony Barnett is a poet and music historian. His books include the collected The Resting Bell (1987) and selected Miscanthus (2005). He wrote a Masters on the Theory and Practice of Literary Translation at University of Essex in 1978. Hewas visiting scholar at the Center for International Programs, Meiji University, Tokyo in 2002. His other translations include Albiach, O. Berg, Delahaye, Giroux, Lagerkvist, Vesaas, Zanzotto. His writing is most recently surveyed in Ian Brinton's volume Contemporary British Poetry Since 1990. Dr Toraiwa naoko is Professor of English at Meiji University. She received her doctorate from University of Sussex and divides her time between Japan and England.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Japan, Philosophy, Literature

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1927

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

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 4 out of 5]

He wanted to live life so intensely that he could die at any moment without regrets.

Three dark and grim but beautifully written short stories, in which the author contemplates life, depression, frustration and death.

-'In the Bamboo Grove' is about the mystery surrounding a murder case. Each witness gives a different account. Whom should we believe?
-'Death Register' is an autobiographical story concerning the deaths of the author’s mother, sister and father.
-'The Life of a Stupid Man' is an autobiographical story written in fifty one short parts in which the author summarizes his life, his achievements and disappointments.

‘I’ve heard you want to die,’ she said.
‘Yes – or rather, it’s not so much that I want to die as that I’m tired of living.’

The author who was suffering from anxiety and depression, took his own life at the age of 35.

[Sean Barrs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone please read this and tell me what it means:

"He was upstairs in a bookstore. Twenty years old at the time, he had climbed a ladder set against a bookcase and was searching for newly-arrived Western books: Maupassant, Baudelaire, Strinberg, Ibsen, Shaw, Tolstoy...

The sun threatened to set before long, but he went on reading book spines with undiminished intensity. Lined up before him was the fin de siècle itself. Nietzsche, Verlaine, the Goncourt brothers, Dostoyevsky, Hauptmann, Flaubert...

He took stock of their names as he struggled with the impending gloom. The books began to sink into the sombre shadows. Finally his stamina gave out and he made ready to climb down. At that very moment, directly overhead, a single bare light bulb came on. Standing on the perch at the top of the ladder, he looked down at the clerks and the customers moving among the books. They were strangely small - and shabby.

Life is not worth a single line of Baudelaire.

He stood on the ladder watching them below..."

And your point is what exactly? This book made me feel stupid. I just couldn’t grasp what the author was getting at for most of it. Well, all of it really. I don’t mind obscurity in literature. Sometimes I crave it. Sometimes it’s nice not to know what something means. You ponder it perpetually. As I’ve done with Kafka’s Trial and more recently the phenomenal Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. I couldn’t tell you what either of those books is about. Nobody can, but arguments can be made. Interpretations can be made. There are ways of reading of them even if each and every way isn’t definitive. For books life those answers will never be had, and because if this they have an undying legacy and an unshakable place in the literary cannon.

With this I was just dumbfounded; I’ve got nothing: no questions, no interpretations: only blankness. The whole short story is made up of a series of unconnected snippets like this. Now I’m sure there are things to be said about this short story. I just can’t say them. Apparently it’s autobiographical. If so that would perhaps explain the nonsensicalness. There are parts in the story that I truly believe would only be understood by one man: the one who wrote it. I’ve read some other reviews on here about this book; I’ve even looked at scholarly summaries about it, and I just don’t see it. Perhaps it’s the modernist style; perhaps its’ Akutagawa’s style. Either way, I know I will not be going near this author again. This was a painful experience. One I am determined not to repeat. I’m dreading my Modernist module next year at university, absolutely dreading it.

But, on the plus side, I get to study children’s literature alongside it. (WHAHOO!)

Penguin Little Black Classic- 56



The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.

[RKanimalkingdom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing like dipping into your favourite author's works when you're stressed no? I'm glad this was the last book I read before studying for my exams.

In the Bamboo Grove 5/5 stars

A short tale about the case of a thief who has been accused of murdering a samurai after raping his wife.
Grim start but that's Akutugawa's style. We are introduced to the case in a very formal cold way. Information is simply told by a third person and by various police officers. By doing this, Akutagawa is clearing the palette. Wiping off any bias you might have formed from the little you have been told as a juror's responsibility is to observe and judge without any preconceived bias towards or against the people involved. Then after all formal procedure is done, we get three perspectives added to what we already now. The thief, the wife, and the dead husband through a spirit medium each covey to the court and reader their perspective which includes their biases and opinions. Through these 3 correspondence you see how the basic plot gets twisted based on each perspective. The observations and assumptions one character makes differs from the other and you become unable to tell who is lying and who is telling the truth. The story ends without a conclusion but you as the reader can assume what is going to happen. It's a very simple tale but makes you think about who is the criminal here. It's Akutagawa's way of showing the true nature of humans. How we prioritize our well being at the cost of others. Say what you want, but many wouldn't hesitate to hurt others in order to protect themselves. It also goes to show how one situation can have so many different interpretations based on the perspectives of different people. I have read this story two times now and each time I learn a bit more and form more questions. The moment you accept the truth in one testimony, you see it's link to the testimony of the other person and thus are forced to accept their truth. In the end, you really do end up wondering what happened in the Bamboo Grove.

Death Register 5/5 stars

This short story is an autobiography of Akutagawa's past. Most of it was reflection on his mother who was insane, his elder sister who had died young, the death of his mother, his relationship with his father, and the death of his father. These are the events we focus on and we see through very little just how much Akutagawa looked down upon himself. He continuously felt inadequate and estranged from his family. It's a sad story and not one you can really give a rating to, but his execution was stupendous especially since he abhorred the idea of writing an autobiography of himself.

The Life of a Stupid Man 5/5 stars

This is actually the author's suicide note. It's a longer short story about his life and he, the stupid man, who went through it. It's definitely not something you can give a rating to but, again, the method he used to execute is so incredible. If you knew nothing of this author, you would still have been able to pick up his sadness and despair. He doesn't try to explain himself, just gives words to the emotions that had been running amok within him for years. Regrets upon regrets are poured into the page and it makes you want to just tell the author that it's okay. But we can't do that can we? So, all that's left is to try and understand him.

[Edgar Allan Hoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was the guy's s*icide note and ya'll rating it 1 star lmfao

[Mark Porton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a challenging read for me. Three short stories by Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa. The last two stories can be considered autobiographical, the last being his suicide note.

In a Bamboo Grove

A dead man found in a bamboo thicket with a chest stab wound. The story reports magistrate interviews with a woodcutter who found the body, the suspect (bandit), the dead man's wife, a travelling priest, a policeman, and an old woman. Conflicting stories abound.

The last testimony was that of the dead man’s spirit as told through a medium. The truth is revealed.

Death Register

A man (the author) tells the stories of the deaths of three of his family members. His ‘mad’ mother, his father, and his little sister.

The Life of a Stupid Man

A rambling autobiographical suicide note, broken down into 50 odd short bursts of regrets, misery, self-loathing, imagery, love affairs and near love affairs, and reflections on how miserable this man’s life was.

The author did, in fact, take his own life in 1927 at the age of 35 from an overdose of barbiturates.

Make sure you’re in a robust frame of mind before reading this. I grabbed this one at random one night on my Kindle and found the whole experience, particularly the last story, a miserable experience.

2 Stars

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

First I have a question: why are people rating this so highly and talking effusively of how brilliant this is.
While the first story is mildly amusing the rest is unreadable. The title story is broken down into 51 miserable bites there is no coherent plot and why would one find his constant moaning of wanting to die thrilling.

In conclusion this book will leave the reader wanting, there is no fulfilment here only emptiness a sense having read NOTHING.

[Afi (WhatAfiReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of three short stories, which two stories mainly revolves on the author himself, making it an autobiography leading to his death. Akutagawa's writing has always had a flair that is quite hard to pinpoint, but its one that I really liked.

The three short stories will not be for everyone's cup of tea, which I recommend proceeding in this book with extreme caution of the trigger warnings (Death, Suicide, Suicidal Thoughts) . It highlights the stages of life in which Akutagawa reflects on his life, up till the moment of his death bed.

My thoughts for the different short stories are as follows:

First Story: In A Bamboo Grove

In a bamboo grove is a story where it is told in different perspectives from a murder of man. Its interesting how Akutagawa had arranged the story in such a way that there is a perspective from the sprit of the man himself. It was entertaining at best, mysterious, and until the end, you wouldn't know who to believe and what to expect.

"Ah, what is the life of a human being - a drop of dew, a flash of lightning? This is so sad, so sad."

Super interesting premise! I liked that each Akutagawa's stories, we are left to ponder upon ourselves what had happened which makes it an interesting read!

Second Story : Death Register

The Death Register is the thoughts of the author himself which told about the three people in his family and how they died. It was a recollection of his thoughts, on the people that somehow mattered to him, and also showing how he had felt at each individual's death at the time. It was sorrowful, and I had definitely loved the haku at the end of the story.

"On that particular day, perhaps because I was physically debilitated, I found myself staring at the blackened gravestone in the early spring afternoon sunlight and wondering which of the three had been the most fortunate."

A shimmering of heat -
Outside the grave
Alone I dwell.

Third Story: The Life of A Stupid Man

"I am living now in the unhappiest happiness imaginable. Yet, strangely I have no regrets. I just feel sorry for everyone and anyone unfortunate enough to have had a bad husband, a bad son, a bad father like me. So, goodbye then."

The life of a stupid man is an autobiography that leads to the death of Akutagawa, told in 51 short verses. His writing is one that I loved. It is daunting, sorrowful and mostly, it shows the thoughts of a man that feels empty inside. Stories like this, when a person whom has not experienced this feeling once in their life, would not be able to relate to the story. It was depressing and dark, but for me, it gave me a sense of comfort in his writing.

"......but he knew that not everyone is moved by literature. His own works were unlikely to appeal to people who were not like him, and had not lived a life like his - this was another feeling that was worked upon him."

He wrote on reflections on different parts of his life, and this short essays of his was given to his good friend Kume Masao, and published as it is. Its one thing to read about someone's life, its also another thing to read on suicidal thoughts that eventually lead to death. One thing's for sure, Akutagawa's love for literature and reading is something that is commendable. He reads a lot, even before he took his own life. He tried to find meaning in life but in such a way that at one point, he just felt empty.

"I've heard you want do die,' she said.
"Yes- or rather, it's not so much that I want to die as that I'm tired of living."

This story especially is not made for everyone. It is dark and it will take a toll on you if you're someone that has never gone through a bleak in your life, so do proceed in this story with caution. For those who can relate to his stories and writings, I pray only the best things in life for you, and tho life can seem unfair and dark, it will work it out. Slowly and surely.

[sienna ・✫・。. *✭˚･ﾟ✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

“He was fond of her, but he did not love her, nor had he ever laid a finger on her.”

[Aleena Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

i <3 consciousness and emotion dumps

[farahxreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first and the second story but I couldnt quite grasp the third story. The first story tells us about a murder and it was told from many perspectives, including the soul of the murdered man. The testimonies were all different and I wondered who was the real criminal. I loved the first story the most.

The second story tells us about the death of the people related to the author. It was melancholic and sad but I crave for something more.

And for the third story, it was told in a little snippet but it was confusing as hell because I couldnt connect the snippets altogether even though some parts were understandable and quite interesting.

[Michelle Curie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ah, what is the life of a human being, a drop of dew, a flesh of lightning? This is so sad, so sad. What can I say?"

This Little Black Classic included three stories of the Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, who lived in the 19th and 20th century. He's regarded to as the father of Japanese short story and Japan's most prestigious literary award is also named after him!



The first fictional story retells a murder scenario solely through the eyes of the witnesses and participants, which was a very interesting perspective. It's a short but enjoyable and unconventional read.

"You gentlemen kill with your power, with your money, and sometimes with your words: you tell people you're doing them a favour. True, no blood flows, the man is still alive, but you've killed him all the same."

The following two stories are autobiographical and a bit harder to get your head around. Akutagawa has a reflective and delicate way of forming his thoughts and I suspect that the beauty of his writing got lost in translation, however, this is a wild guess and I have no way of actually validating this.

There's a recollection of memories of people in Akutagawa's life who died and a contemplation of life phrased in short sequences. Some are only a few sentences long and they chronologically retell memories of the author's life. I liked the general idea of this more than the content to be fair, but they felt like pieces of a puzzles, flashbacks that pop up in your mind. There's not a lot of action, but then I suppose there are different reasons for remembering things and it's interesting, because even though this is not a biography, but a rather poetic approach, I felt like I got to know what kind of person Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was, who unfortunately committed suicide aged 35.

"He happened to pass her on the stairway of a certain hotel. Her face seemed to be bathed in moon glow even now, in daylight. As he watched her walk on (they had never met), he felt a loneliness he had not known before."

In 2015, Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!

[Poulami Chakraborty · Rating 2 out of 5]

My inability to enjoy short stories has been confirmed by this book.

[Esraa Gibreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"At twenty-nine, life no longer held any brightness for him, but Voltaire supplied him with man-made wings."

[Read A Day Club · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It is unfortunate for the gods that, unlike us, they cannot commit suicide.” (The Laughter of the Gods)

This edition of Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s The Life of a Stupid Man includes two other short stories: In A Bamboo Grove and Death Register. This was my first time reading Akutagawa and I’m glad that I started with these three short stories because they are so moving and not at all trite.

Short stories, I know for me, have always been a hit-or-miss. I’m almost always left with wanting more from a short story, but not this time.

Akutagawa’s stories are fascinating because they each deal with themes of death and decay through the lens of everyday objects, nature, and human relationships. The stories are deeply embedded in the heaviness of feeling and human experience, putting into perspective the confines of a human life and how synonymous it is with the eternal ephemerality of “a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.”

It was only after finishing the last story, The Life of a Stupid Man, that I felt the depth and intensity of the first two stories, especially Death Register which is about the author’s recollection of the three deaths in his family, his memories of them, the shape and scent that they once inhabited. It ends with the following lines:

“A shimmering of heat-
Outside the grave
Alone I dwell.”

So powerful and contemplative is the ending that I couldn’t help but revisit these lines after finishing the book. The short stories document the life of an author close to his own cessation and the sorrowful and dark interior life of words and their unceasing universality that we all share. I could relate to Akutagawa’s words more than I would like to admit. They pull you in, slowly but surely, until you’re left with nothing but the ghost of the words you’ve just read.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Χαλαρά απο τις πιο ευχάριστες εκπλήξεις του 18. Ειδικά το Ρασομον, Στον ίσκιο του μπαμπού και το Πόδια Άλογου τα κατατάσσω στα καλύτερα διηγήματα που εχω διαβάσει. Όπως λέει και το επίμετρο : "Πίσω απο τη φαντασία είναι η καθαρή πραγματικότητα. Πίσω απο τον μύθο είναι η καθαρή αλήθεια. Επειδή αυτός ο μύθος δεν είναι το παραμύθι, αλλά η ζωή στην ολοτητα της.".

[Naira Xx · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is it okay if i said that I didn't understand anything?

[Đông Huynh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trước nay người ta vẫn thường nói văn chương của Murakami quá đại chúng, quá "pop", và xa rời với tính chất "Nhật Bản". Theo tôi, ý kiến đó là không đúng. Văn chương của Murakami, hay Mishima...vẫn rất "Nhật Bản". Những nhân vật trong truyện của họ, là những người Nhật rất điển hình.

Nhưng Akutagawa thì khác, đọc Akutagawa tôi không nghĩ đến "Nhật Bản" một chút xíu nào. Có thể nói, văn Akutagawa hiện đại, tinh tế, và thoát ra khỏi "Nhật Bản" tính. Cách nghĩ của Akutagawa, cách hành văn, miêu tả, dẫn dắt câu chuyện, cách hành xử của những nhân vật trong truyện Akutagawa...là rất toàn diện và đại chúng. Đây là điều không thường gặp trong văn chương Nhật Bản.

[sqoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

me when i live the life of a stupid man

[Sneha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made my soul shiver.

[Bella Azam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content warning: Death, suicide, attempted suicide, affairs
"I am living now in the unhappiest happiness imaginable. Yet, strangely I have no regrets"
"I may wear the skin of an urbane sophisticate, butbin this manuscript I invite you to strip it off and laugh at my stupidity"

I almost cried just by reading these words.
This was my 3rd time reading this stories. Its an autobiographical stories comprised of 51 short anthologies or rather I would call it Akutagawa's musings on his life and principles. It was published posthumously after his death by his close friend. Attached to the manuscript was his letter to him which said he is entitled to release this stories but must not identify or put a names to the people he spoke about.

Cadavers
"If I needed a corpse, I'd kill someone without the slightest malice. Of course, the reply stated where it was - inside his heart"

Man-made wings
"At twenty nine, life noblonger held any brightness for him, but Voltaire supplied him with man made wings.
"The higher he flew, the farther below him sank joyd and sorrows of a lifr bathed in the light of intellect"

We started with his descriptions of his mother whom he described as lunatics and whom he barely have any affection for but also afraid he becomes like her as he lives each days with fear. Then, we moved slowly as he grows to become a writer but pressured to concur with the writing industry, married to a woman he loves but ends up in affairs, growing passion for arts and philosophy but also contradicts most of them, become a father but felt he is useless and unsuitable and each time he muses on death and what does it mean to live.

The Birth
"Why did this one have to be born - to come into the worls like all the others, this world so full of suffering?"

Comic Puppet
"He wanted to live life so intensely that he could die at any moment without regrets"

Stuffed Swan (this particularly hits me the hardest)
"As he thought about his lifr, he felt both tears and mockery welling up inside him. All that lay before him was madness or suicide"

I couldn't put into words or make a proper dissection on this one because its personal and raw and basically him telling his own stories in the most vulnerable state he was in, secrets being unburied, darkest desires and emotions being poured out, philosophy shared and contradicted and generally him saying he is unable to be a man worth enough to live. Its quite painful in a away but subtly conveyed in each short passages he wrote.

Interestingly enough, he wrote these using third point of view as if it was another person but it was actually him. Maybe he tries to separate the creation he wrote about from his life but he knows so well it is him and will always be him.

2. Death Register
In here, we see his life in full lights with him describing the death of his insane mother, an elder sister he barely knew, and the father who left him when he was an infant but always tried to reconcile with him somehow. Akutagawa doesnt get love from his real parents but he was given plenty by his adoptive parents. This was poetic and lyrical piece of essay he wrotes on each of his family members and ones that I felt most attached to was his recall of his father's dying on his deathbed. Such a sad moment. The story ended with a haiku as went to visit the graves of his beloved, his thoughts of them dying as if they are fortunate enough to die rather than live.

[Gamar ❤ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I genuinely believe that if u rated this 5 stars ur just pretentious .
This books content was just a paragraph talking abt the most random things that barely make sense most of the time before skipping to a new paragraph with a different title abt a totally different topic that once again barely makes sense . And i firmly believe that my inability to grasp and and see meaning or pattern in any of this does not lie in my intellect . I cant believe this is even considered a classic , i just finished the book and i cant even tell you what it was about .

I sincerely hope his other books are better
book 2 in my 'bungo stray dogs' authors challenge .

[Albara1435 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is difficult to say that such book is understandable or not, factual or fictional. Either way it is reasonable to believe that this kind of writing was written and published by a desperate man who suffered enough in his life and had depressing thoughts about life in general. The first story is a little bit disturbing. It describes an incident of a man who was murdered and tortured before his wife which acted in a strange way.
Somehow, I liked this excerpt "When I kill a man, I do it with my sword, but people like you don't use swords. You gentlemen kill people with your power, with your money, and sometimes just with your words: you tell people you're doing them a favor. True, no blood flows, the man is still alive, but you've killed him all the same. I don't know whose sin is greater - yours or mine." pp 5-6.
The second story seems to be a connection of bad events full of evil and misery.
In the third part, which has 51 stories, there seem to be the genuine thoughts of the author about relationships, life, death, and capitalism. Needless to mention that some stories were hard for me to draw any conclusion from them. Nothing to interpret. No logical conclusion to derive. Some of them even seemed ordinary to the extent where writing them seems unexplained.
Anyway, it was quite good book to end the year with.

[monica ♪ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Ah, what is the life of a human being — a drop of dew, a flash of lightning? This is so sad, so sad."


@monica_reads

The Life of a Stupid Man was my very first read of Penguin Little Black Classic.

This book contents 3 short stories:
1. In a Bamboo Grove
2. Death Register
3. The Life of a Stupid Man

I think 2 of them are like autobiography of the author but it's written uniquely. In The Life of a Stupid Man part, it's just like the snippets of 51 short stories.
At first it was pretty hard for me to understand this book, since it's really out of my usual comfort read.
But actually it's a very enjoyable read.

So I gave this book 4 stars ♥

[Ορφέας Μαραγκός · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αρχικά δεν ξέρω γιατί στα στοιχεία της έκδοσης έχουν δοθεί 202 σελίδες, το δικό μου αντίτυπο πάντως όλη πληρώνεται στην 188.
Πέρα από το Ρασομον και κάποια ακόμη διηγήματα που τα έχω διαβάσει σε παλαιότερη έκδοση, το Βίος και Πολιτεία πραγματικά με συγκλόνισε και μου προκάλεσε ταύτιση. Απλό, λιτό, και σκοτεινά ωραίο.
Γενικότερα πρέπει να πω ότι το καταβροχθησα λαίμαργα ολόκληρο το βιβλίο, και με ενθουσίασε και το επίμετρο της Αγγελικής Κορρέ διότι είναι ουσιώδες, και όχι "έλα να σου πω εγώ τι θέλει να πει ο Ακουτάγκαβα". θεωρώ πολύ χρήσιμο να υπάρχουν τέτοιου τύπου σημειώσεις σε συγγραφείς που λόγω της προέλευσης οι εκδότες (ας μου επιτραπεί η έκφραση) τους ξεπετανε.
Γενικά αξιοπρεπεστατη και ποιοτική έκδοση, με πάμπολλες σημειώσεις (σημαντικό κι αυτό) και μακάρι να υπάρξουν κι άλλες να γνωριστούμε καλύτερα με την Ιαπωνική λογοτεχνία.

4 / 5

[sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

better writing style than , three japanese short stories
in a bamboo grove : we’re they taking an interview for a magazine?? only story i understood
death register : interesting but confusing
the life of a stupid man: was written only to be written 💀(like the saying, u spoke just to hear yourself speak)

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok iyi eğitimli, çok zeki ve çok yetenekli bir insanın, her açıdan zorluklarla dolu yaşamından kesitler.

Akutagawa modern Japon öykücülüğünün en önde gelen yazarlarından birisi. Ancak bu eseri, öykü formunda yazılmış olan, kendi yaşamından önemli anların, zayıflığının ve iç hesaplaşmasının hikayesi.

Yarım kalmış, yeterince yazılmış (!) öyküler. Derin bilgi birikimi, hassas duygular, kırılgan ruh hali ve hezeyanlarla, sanrılarla dolu bir dönemin günlük kayıtları gibi.

Bu eserinde yazarın, sadece doğanın ve insan tarafından üretilen estetikten (sf; 103) etkilendiğini, hayata karşı sadece eser üretme arzusu (sf; 106) duyduğunu ve O’nu mutlu eden tek şeyin kitaplar (sf; 92, 104, 105) olduğunu anlıyoruz.

Hayatı boyunca ilişkilerinde hemen hemen hiç mutlu olamamış, derin bir yalnızlığın içinde olan yazar; birbirini seven insanların, birbirlerine acı çektirdiğini (sf; 93) ve toplumun zaten bizzat intihara yardım ve yataklık ettiğini (sf; 118) ifade etmekte. Bu duygular, annesinden miras şizofreni ile de birleşince, intihara giden yolun nedenleri oluşmuş oluyor.

Çok etkileyici metinler fakat bir o kadar da derinlikli ve zor.

“…güçlülerin de içinde zayıf noktaları vardır…”, sf; 87.

[Julie Kuhlman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharp, reflective, and surprisingly funny in places, this collection gives such an honest glimpse into Akutagawa’s mind. It mixes wit with a bit of melancholy, creating that perfect balance of humor and depth that keeps you reading.

Some pieces hit harder than others, but together they paint a vivid picture of a writer wrestling with life, identity, and the absurdities of it all. A quick but thought-provoking read that stays with you.

[sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

something about this has charmed me.

[The Artisan Geek]

2/3/20
Wow the first story In the Bamboo Grove, was so good! I haven't read such a captivating in quite a while. The two other pieces were non-fiction and I think I would have enjoyed them more, had I been more familiar with Akutagawa's life and work. Will definitely be reading more from this author!

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[alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is unfortunate for the gods that, unlike us, they cannot commit suicide