SOURCE: “Akutagawa Ryunosuke,” in Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era, Henry Holt and Company, 1984, pp. 556–93.

In the following essay, Keene presents an overview of Akutagawa's short stories and his place in modern fiction.

The most striking literary figure of the fifteen years of the Taishō era was Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (1892–1927). He established his reputation early in his brief career, and even when his style and manner had greatly changed he retained his hold on the mass of readers. His short stories, especially those of the early period, have acquired the status of classics, and are read in the schools and frequently reprinted. He was also the first modern Japanese writer to attract wide attention abroad, and most of his important works have been translated. His writings, together with those of Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai, “constitute the basic elements in the literary background...