Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Author profile

born

March 01, 1892 in Tokyo, Japan

died

July 24, 1927

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story". He is renowned for his style and finely detailed stories that explore the darker side of human nature. Akutagawa wrote no full-length novels, focusing instead on short stories

Towards the end of his life, Akutagawa began suffering from visual hallucinations and nervousness over fear that he had inherited his mother's mental disorder. In 1927 he tried to take his own life, together with a friend of his wife, but the attempt failed. He finally committed suicide by taking an overdose of Veronal.

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Books by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Average rating: 4.00 · 3,441 ratings · 350 reviews · 49 distinct works

	Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Illustrator), Jay Rubin (Translator) 4.09 avg rating — 1,248 ratings — published 1952 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Rashomon: And Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Takashi Kojima (Translator) 3.97 avg rating — 503 ratings — published 1952 — 29 editions	My rating:
	Kappa 3.73 avg rating — 366 ratings — published 352 — 12 editions	My rating:
	Rashomon 4.09 avg rating — 189 ratings — published 1954 — 13 editions	My rating:
	The Essential Akutagawa: Rashomon, Hell Screen, Cogwheels, a Fool's Life and Other Short Fiction by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jorge Luis Borges 4.45 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 1999	My rating:
	In a Grove 4.20 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Hell Screen by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jay Rubin (Translator) 4.17 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 1970 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Mandarins: Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Charles De Wolf (Translator), Ryunosuke Akutagawa 4.27 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2007	My rating:
	The Spider's Thread 4.36 avg rating — 42 ratings — published 2003 — 3 editions	My rating:
	A Fool's Life by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Ryunoskue Akutagawa 4.34 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 1927 — 5 editions	My rating:

More books by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa…

Quotes by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

“A man sometimes devotes his life to a desire which he is not sure will ever be fulfilled. Those who laugh at this folly are, after all, no more than mere spectators of life.”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon: And Other Stories

940 people liked it

“I could wish for nothing more than to die for a childish dream in which I truly believed.”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Mandarins: Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

31 people liked it

“I have heard unsavory rumors about you and the umbrella-maker's daughter”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories

8 people liked it

See all Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's quotes »

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Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Quotes by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa