One of the toughest things about reviewing short story collections is that many of them turn out to be a mixed bag: hidden gems and powerful vignettes weighed down by real duds and entries that leave you thinking, “Is that all?” This collection of stories by one of Japan’s most influential writers falls into that problem. In “Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories,” Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s writings are translated and packaged not only to present these stories to Western audiences, but also to tell the meta narrative of Akutagawa’s descent into mental illness and his suicide in his 30s. Jay Rubin does a fantastic job translating not only the text, but also with his translator notes that relay a lot of the context behind Akutagawa’s works. When I review short story collections, I generally rate each story individually on its merits, but here, I believe it makes more sense to discuss the stories in the translator’s groupings, as some stories are very short, and many within the same group share very similar tones and subject matter.
A World In Decay: I would probably give this set of six stories five stars. This is by far the most consistently entertaining group of stories, as they grapple with interesting and dramatic themes such as morality, religion, and perspective in a playful tone and with a flair for the fantastical. The titular story, “Rashōmon,” is very short and left me wanting more as a stand-alone work, but it is an excellent prelude and thesis statement for the rest of this story group. In the story, a guard living in a time of societal decay grapples with nihilism and the temptation to put his own needs above what is morally right. In “In the Bamboo Grove,” “The Nose,” “Dragon: The Old Potter’s Tale,” and “The Spider Thread,” Akutagawa plays with characters’ desires and expectations and finds really fun ways to relay basic universal messages such as the power of karma, not appreciating what you have until it’s gone, and the power of faith and imagination. These themes come together and are refined in “Hell Screen,” a really twisted tale of a painter committed to painting a large multi-panel screen depicting hell. Since he can only paint what he has seen with his own eyes, he inflicts horrific acts on others in the name of his art.
Under The Sword: This set of three stories is also quite good. I really enjoyed the first two stories, “Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum,” and “O-Gin” as they tackle the influence of Christianity in Japan, and how far people can be pushed and tormented by darkness before they lose faith. “Loyalty,” meanwhile, is a great and immersive story for readers who are looking for a tale set in the time of samurai and shoguns.
Modern Tragicomedy: This is where Akutagawa’s work really started to lose my interest. Of these three stories, the only one I really enjoyed was “Horse Legs,” an absurd story about a man who dies and is revived three days later to find that his legs have rotted away and the only legs available that can replace them belong to a recently-deceased horse. We then follow the protagonist as he tries to hide his secret and learns to navigate living with his new-found limbs. On face value, this story is a supernatural comedy, but there is also a suggestion in the text that it may all be a manifestation of the protagonist’s insanity. The other two stories here, “The Story of a Head That Fell Off” and “Green Onions” really did nothing for me, and started to show a tonal shift toward despair and joylessness.
Akutagawa’s Own Story: I struggled to make it through most of the six stories in this group. As the group title suggests, these stories are autobiographical or semi-autobiographical vignette’s of the author’s life with a heavy focus on depression, self-loathing, anxiety, pessimism, and suicidal ideation. While these are all important themes worth discussion and representation in literature, I just did not enjoy reading these stories. Many of them felt like diary entries and given the subject matter, they lacked the color and whimsy of the stories that I enjoyed earlier in the book. In terms of literary merit, “Spinning Gears” is the only story here that I think is worth reading, and on its own, it is pretty impressively-written and full of rich imagery and symbolism. I had just lost a lot of patience for reading about depression and suicide by the time I got to it.
Overall, I appreciated Akutagawa’s works, even if I did not enjoy all of it. I would definitely read a handful of these stories again, and I can see why his legacy is as strong as it is in Japan. But the good is very much weighed down by the bad here. I guess that’s all part of the tragedy of this man’s life and career.
The Once and Future Lit 