Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon and Other Stories is only $0.99 at Amazon. Ironically, the landmark Kurosawa film Rashomon is based on not the title story, but another story in this book: In A Grove.
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Widely acknowledged as "the father of the Japanese short story," Ryunosuke Akutagawa remains one of the most influential Japanese writers of all time. Rashomon and Other Stories, a collection of his most celebrated work, resonates as strongly today as when it first published a century ago.
This volume includes: - In a Grove: An iconic, contradictory tale of the murder of a samurai in a forest near Kyoto told through three varying accounts
- Rashomon: A masterless samurai contemplates following a life of crime as he encounters an old woman at the old Rashomon gate outside Kyoto
- Yam Gruel: A low-ranking court official laments his position all the while yearning for his favorite, yet humble, dish
- The Martyr: Set in Japan's Christian missionary era, a young boy is excommunicated for fathering an illegitimate child, but not all is as it seems
- Kesa and Morito: An adulterous couple plots to kill the woman's husband as the situation threatens to spin out of control
- The Dragon: A priest concocts a prank involving a dragon, but the tall tale begins to take on a life of its own
With a new foreward by noted Akutagawa scholar Seiji Lippit, this updated version of a classic collection is a an excellent, readable introduction to Japanese literature.
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