The Life of a Stupid Man: Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Penguin Little Black Classics)

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This book serves as a beautiful introduction to the work of Akatagawa that will make you want to read his other works, and is stunning and reflective in it’s own right. Work provided no respite; an anthology of new Japanese writing, which Akutagawa had painstakingly edited, became mired in accusations of financial impropriety and breach of copyright. His wife would find him cowering in his study, clinging to the edges of the room, convinced the walls were falling in. I’m not sure I’m the right audience for it because although these short stories have some essence in them, I felt lost after having read the book, especially the last story.

The Life of a Stupid Man: Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Penguin Little

First I have a question: why are people rating this so highly and talking effusively of how brilliant this is. 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 started as a clean-cut murder stories, but as the plot goes, it thickens (insert Rajesh Koothrapali stirring Thanksgiving gravy here). Interestingly enough, he wrote these using third point of view as if it was another person but it was actually him. Two Books collecting stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa: "Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories" and "Mandarins: Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa", plus one separate short story titled "The Christ of Nanking" - Files in EPUB and MOBI formats.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. Possibly the arbitrary nature of his own survival and his huge exposure to death in the wake of the earthquake had exacerbated his feelings of guilt and self-loathing. When I reached the end I was overwhelmed by the wisdom Akatagawa seemed to possess, and was very surprised to find that he died by suicide at the age of just 35, which of course meant he wrote the autobiography of his short life also in his 30s.

The Life of a Stupid Man - Waterstones

His exploration of life and the nature of sadness ultimately lead to his death, but also influences his incredible work. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. There are parts in the story that I truly believe would only be understood by one man: the one who wrote it. As vain as he is critical of Kappa society, Tok is a philandering and pessimistic poet who suffers from delusions and insomnia. In this letter, Akutagawa describes his meticulous plans for suicide; he had rejected drowning because he was a strong swimmer, death by hanging because it was unsightly.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. You gentlemen kill with your power, with your money, and sometimes just with your words: you tell people you’re doing them a favor.