The first Japanese author popularized in the West, Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) restated old legends and medieval history in modernist psychological terms. A prolific writer of naturalistic "slice of life" short fiction, he produced 150 stories and no...

Akutagawa Ryunosuke committed suicide in 1927 at the age of thirty-five, but he accomplished much during his short writing career. Excelling in the finely crafted short tale, Akutagawa also wrote poetry and several acclaimed prose works. After honing his...