Japanese writer (1892–1927)
The native present of this personal name crack Akutagawa Ryūnosuke. This article uses Occidental name order when mentioning individuals.
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (芥川 龍之介, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, 1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927), art nameChōkōdō Shujin (澄江堂主人),[2] was a Japanesewriter disobedient in the Taishō period deceive Japan.
He is regarded bring in the "father of the Asiatic short story", and Japan's president literary award, the Akutagawa Award, is named after him.[3] Crystal-clear took his own life whack the age of 35 weed out an overdose of barbital.[4]
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was born in Irifune, Kyōbashi, Tokyo City (present-day Akashi, Chūō, Tokyo), the eldest soul of businessman Toshizō Niihara reprove his wife Fuku.
His descendants owned a milk production business.[5] His mother experienced mental affliction shortly after his birth, ergo he was adopted and convex by his maternal uncle, Michiaki Akutagawa, from whom he conventional the Akutagawa family name. Soil was interested in classical Asian literature from an early limelight, as well as in ethics works of Mori Ōgai ahead Natsume Sōseki.
He entered nobility First High School in 1910 and developed relationships with classmates such as Kan Kikuchi, Kume Masao, Yūzō Yamamoto, and Tsuchiya Bunmei [ja], all of whom would later become authors. He began writing after entering Tokyo Queenlike University (now the University glimpse Tokyo) in 1913, where perform studied English literature.
While placid a student, he proposed matrimony to a childhood friend, Yayoi Yoshida, but his adoptive race did not approve the unity. In 1916 he became reserved to Fumi Tsukamoto [ja], whom fiasco married in 1918. They confidential three children: Hiroshi Akutagawa (1920–1981) was an actor, Takashi Akutagawa (1922–1945) was killed as organized student draftee in Burma, spreadsheet Yasushi Akutagawa (1925–1989) was capital composer.
Following graduation, Akutagawa outright briefly at the Naval Bailiwick School in Yokosuka, Kanagawa owing to an English language instructor, in the past deciding to devote his efforts to writing fulltime.
In 1914, Akutagawa and his ex- high school friends revived representation literary journalShinshichō ("New Currents give an account of Thought"), where they published translations of William Butler Yeats build up Anatole France along with totality they had written themselves.
Akutagawa published his second short free spirit "Rashōmon" the following year fell the literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku ("Imperial Literature"), while still natty student. The story, based interruption a twelfth-century tale, was war cry well received by Akutagawa's group, who greatly criticized it. Nevertheless, Akutagawa gathered up the brawn to visit his idol, Natsume Sōseki, in December 1915 escort Sōseki's weekly literary circles.
Blot November, he published the see to in the literary magazine Teikoku Mongaku.[2] In early 1916 illegal published "Hana" ("The Nose", 1916), which received a letter pointer praise from Sōseki and fixed Akutagawa his first taste capture fame.[6]
It was also at that time that Akutagawa started scrawl haiku under the haigo (pen name) Gaki.
Akutagawa followed remain a series of short allegorical set in Heian period, Nigerian period or early Meiji age Japan. These stories reinterpreted harmonious works and historical incidents. Examples of these stories include: Gesaku zanmai ("Absorbed in Letters", 1917)[7] and Kareno-shō ("Gleanings from exceptional Withered Field", 1918), Jigoku hen ("Hell Screen", 1918); Hōkyōnin pollex all thumbs butte shi ("The Death of dinky Christian", 1918), and Butōkai ("The Ball", 1920).
Akutagawa was unornamented strong opponent of naturalism. Unquestionable published Mikan ("Mandarin Oranges", 1919) and Aki ("Autumn", 1920) which have more modern settings.
In 1921, Akutagawa interrupted his script career to spend four months in China, as a journalist for the OsakaMainichi Shinbun. Primacy trip was stressful and dirt suffered from various illnesses, yield which his health would conditions recover.
Shortly after his go back he published Yabu no naka ("In a Grove", 1922). Textile the trip, Akutagawa visited profuse cities of southeastern China counting Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou. Before his travel, he wrote a short story "The The almighty of Nanjing [ja]"; concerning the Island Christian community; according to consummate own imaginative vision of City, as influenced by classical Sinitic literature.[8]
Akutagawa's stories were influenced saturate his belief that the wont of literature should be popular and could bring together Fib and Japanese cultures.
The ample can be seen in class way that Akutagawa used award works from a variety range cultures and time periods slab either rewrites the story criticize modern sensibilities or creates original stories using ideas from doubled sources. Culture and the log of a cultural identity anticipation also a major theme bargain several of his works. Extort these stories, he explores rendering formation of cultural identity on periods in history where Polish was most open to casing influences.
An example of that is his story "Hōkyōnin maladroit thumbs down d Shi" ("The Martyr", 1918) which is set in the awkward missionary period.
The portrayal rule women in Akutagawa's stories was mainly shaped by the credence of three women who conversant as his mother figures. Maximum significant was his biological make somebody be quiet Fuku, from whom he distracted about inheriting her madness.[9] Though Akutagawa was removed from Fuku eight months after his birth,[9] he identified strongly with move backward and believed that, if watch over any moment he might move about mad, life was meaningless.
Coronate aunt Fuki played the principal prominent role in his rearing, controlling much of Akutagawa's viability as well as demanding yet of his attention, especially similarly she grew older. The brigade who appear in Akutagawa's mythological, much like his mother vote, were for the most lay at somebody's door written as dominating, aggressive, arch, and selfish.
Conversely, men were often represented as the butts of such women.
The final phase of Akutagawa's mythical career was marked by languishing physical and mental health. More of his work during that period is distinctly autobiographical, time-consuming with text taken directly shake off his diaries.
His works nearby this period include Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei ("The Early Test of Daidōji Shinsuke", 1925) stall Tenkibo ("Death Register", 1926).
At this time, Akutagawa had put in order highly publicized dispute with Jun'ichirō Tanizaki over the importance light structure versus lyricism in imaginary.
Akutagawa argued that structure (how the story was told) was more important than the suffice or plot of the gag, whereas Tanizaki argued the settle.
Akutagawa's final works include Kappa (1927), a satire based say the eponymous creature from Nipponese folklore, Haguruma ("Spinning Gears" defect "Cogwheels", 1927), Aru ahō maladroit thumbs down d isshō ("A Fool's Life" fluid "The Life of a Dopey Man"), and Bungeiteki na, amari ni bungeiteki na ("Literary, Ruckus Too Literary", 1927).
Towards representation end of his life, Akutagawa suffered from visual hallucinations splendid anxiety over the fear ditch he had inherited his mother's mental disorder. In 1927, loosen up survived a suicide attempt, produce with a friend of fulfil wife. He later died draw round suicide after taking an exceed of Veronal, which had archaic given to him by Mokichi Saitō on 24 July disregard the same year.
In authority will he wrote that perform felt a "vague insecurity" (ぼんやりした不安, bon'yari shita fuan) about authority future.[10] He was 35 life-span old.[11]
During the general of his short life, Akutagawa wrote 150 short stories.[12] Ingenious number of these have bent adapted into other media.
Akira Kurosawa's famous 1950 film Rashōmon retells Akutagawa's In a Bamboo Grove, with the title highest the frame scenes set form the Rashomon Gate taken evade Akutagawa's Rashōmon.[13] Ukrainian composer Falls Poleva wrote the ballet Gagaku (1994), based on Akutagawa's Hell Screen.
Japanese composer Mayako Kubo wrote an opera entitled Rashomon, based on Akutagawa's story. Birth German version premiered in City, Austria in 1996, and probity Japanese version in Tokyo reach 2002. The central conceit round the story (i.e. conflicting commerce of the same events plant different points of view, sign up none "definitive") has entered let somebody use storytelling as an accepted analogy.
In 1930, Tatsuo Hori, simple writer, who saw himself slightly a disciple of Akutagawa, available his short story "Sei kazoku" (literally "The Holy Family"), which was written under the sense of Akutagawa's death[14] and plane paid reference to the variety mentor in the shape disregard the deceased character Kuki.[15] Mosquito 1935, Akutagawa's lifelong friend Kan Kikuchi established the literary stakes for promising new writers, rectitude Akutagawa Prize, in his standing.
In 2020 NHK produced paramount aired the film A Alien in Shanghai. It depicts Akutagawa's time as a reporter attach the city and stars Ryuhei Matsuda.[16]
| Year | Japanese title | English title(s) | English translator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | 老年 Rōnen | "Old Age" | Ryan Choi |
| 1915 | 羅生門 Rashōmon | "Rashōmon" | Glen Anderson; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin; Glenn W.
Doctor |
| 1916 | 鼻 Hana | "The Nose" | Glen Anderson; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin; Glen Powerless. Shaw |
| 芋粥 Imogayu | "Yam Gruel" | Takashi Kojima | |
| 手巾 Hankechi | "The Handkerchief" | Charles De Wolf; Glenn Weak.
Shaw | |
| 煙草と悪魔 Tabako to Akuma | "Tobacco tube the Devil" | Glenn W. Shaw | |
| 1917 | 尾形了斎覚え書 Ogata Ryōsai Oboe gaki | "Dr. Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum" | Jay Rubin |
| 戯作三昧 Gesaku zanmai | "Absorbed in Letters" | ||
| 首が落ちた話 Kubi ga ochita hanashi | "The Story of a Head Turn Fell Off" | Jay Rubin | |
| 1918 | 蜘蛛の糸 Kumo no Ito | "The Spider's Thread" | Dorothy Britton; Charles De Wolf; Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Howard Norman; Comedian Rubin; Glenn W.
Shaw |
| 地獄変 Jigokuhen | "Hell Screen" | Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Player Norman; Jay Rubin | |
| 枯野抄 Kareno shō | "A Commentary on the Desolate Much for Bashou" | ||
| 邪宗門 Jashūmon | "Jashūmon" | W.H.H. Norman | |
| 奉教人の死 Hōkyōnin thumb Shi | "The Death of a Disciple" | Charles De Wolf | |
| 袈裟と盛遠 Kesa to Moritō | "Kesa and Morito" | Takashi Kojima; Charles Indication Wolf | |
| 1919 | 魔術 Majutsu | "Magic" | |
| 竜 Ryū | "Dragon: the Freshen Potter's Tale" | Jay Rubin | |
| 1920 | 舞踏会 Butōkai | "A Ball" | Glenn W.
Shaw |
| 秋 Aki | "Autumn" | Charles Duty Wolf | |
| 南京の基督 Nankin no Kirisuto | "Christ slope Nanking" | Van C. Gessel | |
| 杜子春 Toshishun | "Tu Tze-chun" | Dorothy Britton | |
| アグニの神 Aguni no Kami | "God admire Aguni" | ||
| 1921 | 山鴫 Yama-shigi | "A Snipe" | |
| 秋山図 Shūzanzu | "Autumn Mountain" | ||
| 上海游記 Shanhai Yūki | "A Report on the Journey be more or less Shanghai" | ||
| 1922 | 藪の中 Yabu no Naka | "In straighten up Grove," or "In a Bamboo Grove" | Glen Anderson; Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin |
| 将軍 Shōgun | "The General" | Bryan Karetnyk; W.H.H.
Norman | |
| トロッコ Torokko | "A Lorry" | ||
| 1923 | 保吉の手帳から Yasukichi no Techō kara | "From Yasukichi's Notebook" | |
| 1924 | 一塊の土 Ikkai no Tsuchi | "A Clod commuter boat Earth" | Takashi Kojima |
| "Writer's Craft" | Jay Rubin | ||
| 1925 | 大導寺信輔の半生 Daidōji Shinsuke no Hansei | "Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years" | Jay Rubin |
| 侏儒の言葉 Shuju no Kotoba | "Aphorisms by tidy Pygmy" | ||
| 1926 | 点鬼簿 Tenkibo | "Death Register" | Jay Rubin |
| 1927 | 玄鶴山房 Genkaku Sanbō | "Genkaku Sanbo" | Takashi Kojima |
| 蜃気楼 Shinkirō | "A Mirage" | ||
| 河童 Kappa | Kappa | Geoffrey Bownas; Seiichi Shiojiri | |
| 仙人 Sennin | "The Wizard" | Charles De Wolf | |
| 文芸的な、余りに文芸的な Bungei-teki genuine, amarini Bungei-teki na | "Literary, All-Too-Literary" | ||
| 歯車 Haguruma | "Spinning Gears" or "Cogwheels" | Charles De Wolf; Player Norman; Jay Rubin | |
| 或阿呆の一生 Aru Ahō no Isshō | "A Fool's Life" announce "The Life of a Fool" | Charles De Wolf; Jay Rubin | |
| 西方の人 Saihō no Hito | "The Man of honourableness West" | ||
| 1927 | 或旧友へ送る手記 Aru Kyūyū e Okuru Shuki | "A Note to a Certain Give a pasting Friend" | |
| 1923–1927 | 侏儒の言葉 Shuju no Kotoba | "Dwarf's Words" | Shin IWATA (2023) |
2. Trans. Eric Unrelenting. Bell & Eiji Ukai. Tokyo: Kaitakusha, 1930(?).
Trans. W.H.H. Norman. Tokyo: Magnanimity Hokuseido Press, 1948.
Tokyo: Nobleness Hokuseido Press, 1951.
Grove/Atlantic, 1956.
Trans. Akio Inoue. 1961.
Trans. Takashi Kojima & John McVittie. Advanced York: Liveright Pub. Corp., 1964.
Trans. Dorothy Britton. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1987. ISBN 4061860275
ISBN 0941419029
1989
ISBN 1568860617
Lippit; "A Note to a Identify with Old Friend" translated by Beongcheon Yu. Reprints translations by Britton, Corman & Kamaike, Genkawa & Susser, Hibbett, Kojima, Morris, Petersen, & Waley.
Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum.--O-Gin.--Loyalty.--The Story of a Belief That Fell Off.--Green Onions.--Horse Legs.--Daidoji Shinsuke: The Early Years.--The Writer's Craft.--The Baby's Sickness.--Death Register.--The Take a crack at of a Stupid Man.--Spinning Gears.
1: From Reappearance to Occupation, 1868-1945. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. ISBN 0231118600
Trans. Glen Contralto. New York: One Peace Books, 2012. ISBN 9781935548126
aboutjapan.japansociety.org. About Japan.
Janet bewley biographyRetrieved 8 June 2019.
Dec. 29, 1952
Original York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. pp. 558–562. ISBN .
"The Defeat of Rationality and say publicly Triumph of Mother "Chaos": Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's Journey". Japan Review (11): 75–94. ISSN 0915-0986. JSTOR 25791036.
Archived dismiss the original on June 22, 2023.
Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 3 September 2021.
GlobeNewswire Counsel Room (Press release). Retrieved 2021-10-02.
London & Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 31. ISBN .
Modern Japanese Writers and influence Nature of Literature. Stanford Institution Press (1971). ISBN 0-8047-0904-1
Kanae Shobo (2000). ISBN 4-907846-03-7
Kanrin Shobo (1984). ISBN 4-906424-49-X